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v HISTORY OF 

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AND OP 

LATER CHURCHES THERE 

AS SKETCHED BY 

PROF. JOHN WESLEY CHURCHILL 

IN AN ADDRESS TO 

THE NASHUA HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
DECEMBER 16, 1885 



v^ 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND EDITORIAL NOTES 

AND A BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH OF 

PROF. CHURCHILL 

CHARLES CARROLL MORGAN ^ 



Si|* 3Kort %\l\ iJr*aa 

Samuel Usher 
170 high street, boston. mass. 



Co&s/ 2. 






Copyright, 1918 
By Charles Carroll Morgan 



SEP 30 1918 







©GLA503611 



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INTRODUCTION. 



The following address by Prof. John Wesley Churchill 
is now printed, for the first time, in enduring form. It 
was published originally in the columns of the Nashua 
Daily Telegraph and of the Nashua Daily Gazette im- 
mediately after its delivery. Copies of these newspapers 
containing the address can be found at present only in 
private hands, are very few, and have been kept with ex- 
treme care lest they become lost or destroyed. Unfor- 
tunately they are disfigured with many typographical 
errors and other mistakes such as are hardly avoidable in 
hasty journalistic work. 

In the hope to correct such faults, the editor of this 
book wrote to the widow of Prof. Churchill, asking if his 
manuscript of the address could be had, to aid in the work. 
The following gracious letter came in reply. 

Andover, Mass., April 16, 191 7. 
Mr. Charles C. Morgan: — 

My dear Sir, — Circumstances have delayed an answer 
to your kind and courteous letter of March 19. 

I regret to tell you that the manuscript you desire is 
not to be found among my files of papers. I have a dis- 
tinct remembrance that the address was written under 
adverse circumstances as to time and place, on account of 
Mr. Churchill's seminary duties in Andover and the re- 
search work in Nashua. Almost all of the writing was 
accomplished while journeying between the two places, 
and the manuscript was necessarily marred by erasures 
and interlining. I recall too that the press reports were 
not satisfactory, and that Mr. Churchill intended to re- 



iv Introduction. 

duce and condense very much the printed matter, as well as 
to correct errors. 

As I had not seen a printed copy of the address, I 
turned over your letter, with stamps you enclosed, to my 
brother-in-law, Mr. Elbert L. Churchill, Arlington, Mass., 
Cooperative Bank. He thought we might possibly have 
a condensed printed copy. He will communicate with 
you in regard to the matter. 

But I wish to thank you personally for your kind and 
appreciative memorial words. I am grateful that my 
husband's friends in his old home hold his memory in 
honored remembrance. 

Most sincerely yours, 

Mary Donald Churchill. 

(Mrs. John Wesley Churchill.) 

After the lapse of time enough for careful search, the 
following agreeable letter came from Prof. Churchill's 
brother.* 

Arlington, Mass., May 14, 1917. 
Mr. Charles C. Morgan, 
Nashua, N. H. 

Dear Sir, — Your letter dated March 19, 1917, ad- 
dressed to Mrs. J. Wesley Churchill, Andover, Mass., was 
duly received and has been handed to me for reply. 

I regret to say that the documents referred to are not 
in my possession, and Mrs. Churchill informs me that 
they are probably destroyed. 

I remember very distinctly and pleasantly the occa- 
sion referred to, and that I was very proud of my brother 
for the part taken by him. 

The newspaper reports of his address doubtless will 
be the only record obtainable, and I am sorry that they 



Introduction. v 

are found to be inaccurate. If at some future time these 
papers should be found and I have knowledge of the same, 
I shall be pleased to forward them to the church authori- 
ties, to be disposed of as they shall see fit. 
Yours respectfully, 

Elbert L. Churchill. 

In Mrs. Churchill's letter, she speaks of her husband's 
research work in Nashua. Undoubtedly representatives 
of the various churches, mentioned, were glad to supply 
him with copies from their church records and with other 
useful information. Yet it is plain he was unsparing in 
his personal efforts; since a unity of purpose and conscien- 
tiousness of endeavor is manifest throughout. 

As the greater part of his address was written in the 
cars, while he was journeying to and fro many times be- 
tween Andover and Nashua, he was forced to such hasty 
composition as made later revision and improvement de- 
sirable. The need of revision probably was more apparent 
to him than to others. Undoubtedly his quick eye noticed 
that a few of the words he had used were not such as 
he preferred; that sentences he meant to divide were left 
unbroken; that transpositions he had intended were over- 
looked; and that the newspaper punctuation frequently 
failed to bring out his meaning as he desired. But his 
admirable elocution probably did much to hide these im- 
perfections, and it is quite likely his listeners scarcely 
noticed them. 

At this late day, an attempt at a thorough revision, 
when so little can be found to aid in the work, would be 
presumptuous. Yet, on re-reading the address, it is 
thought well to make such amendments in form as there is 
good reason to believe he desired, but without any material 
changes in substance. 



vi Introduction. 

Although Mrs. Churchill says he " intended to reduce 
and condense very much the printed matter," no altera- 
tions of this nature have been attempted. 

The most striking characteristics of Prof. Churchill's 
address are the broad tolerance and loving spirit that per- 
vade it from beginning to end. His keenly sympathetic 
nature, always alive to the feelings of others, is everywhere 
apparent. 

It is believed that the brief biographical sketch at 
the end of the book will be welcome to many readers. 



It may be well to supplement what is said by Prof. 
Churchill, on page 2J of his address, with the following 
statement : — 

The first armed resistance by any of the American 
colonists to the tyranny of Great Britain was in disap- 
proval of a royal decree forbidding their importation of 
arms or military stores. During the progress of former 
events leading up to the Revolutionary War, the Colonial 
Assembly of New Hampshire, early in 1774, appointed a 
committee of correspondence for promoting concert of 
action with the other colonies in protective measures. 
Soon afterwards the Assembly brought about the election 
of two delegates to the First Continental Congress, which 
met in Philadelphia on September 5th of that year. One 
of these delegates was John Sullivan, a capable lawyer 
whose office was in Durham, N. H., and who was a major 
in the N. H. militia. Sullivan acquitted himself satisfac- 
torily, as a member of this congress, in companionship 
with such famous provincials as George Washington, 
John Adams, Edward Rutledge and others. In Decem- 
ber of the same year, tidings were received of the royal 
decree just mentioned and of the expected arrival of ves- 



Introduction. vii 

sels bringing troops to secure the retention in British 
possession of Fort William and Mary commanding the 
entrance to Portsmouth harbor. Immediately a small 
militia force was rallied, under the lead of Maj. Sullivan 

— with John Langdon, second in command, — and, on 
the night of December 14th, they surprised and captured 
the fort. Its little garrison of six was made prisoners, 
in spite of a determined resistance. 

The next day, fifteen of the lighter cannon of the fort 
and all its small arms were removed, and were soon dis- 
tributed privately in the neighboring towns. Nearly 200 
kegs of powder that fell into the hands of the captors were 
secretly carried to Durham, where they were hidden for 
a time beneath the pulpit of its meeting-house. After- 
wards they were stealthily conveyed to Charlestown, Mass., 

— reaching there just in time to replenish the scanty 
powder-supply of the American troops engaged in the 
Battle of Bunker Hill, and thus enabling them to more 
effectually check their British assailants.* 

It will be noticed that the capture of Fort William 
and Mary occurred more than four months before the 
Battle of Lexington and Concord. This early event did 
much to fire the hearts of the New Hampshire colonists, 
and to prepare their hardy frontiersmen (trained as minute- 
men in Indian warfare) to snatch their arms when tidings 
of the struggle at Lexington reached them and to speed as 
fast as their horses could carry them to the neighborhood 
of Boston. It should be remembered that among these 
volunteers was Col. (afterwards Gen.) John Stark, the 

* For an entertaining sketch of Sullivan — who, in June, 1775, 
was appointed by Congress a brigadier general, and commanded at 
Winter Hill during the siege of Boston — see " Colonial Life in New 
Hampshire," by James H. Fassett. 



viii Introduction. 

famous leader of New Hampshire rangers during the seven 
years of previous hostilities against the French and Indians, 
With him were many who shared in his experiences. To- 
gether they formed the left wing of the colonial troops at 
the Battle of Bunker Hill, and were the last to retire before 
the enemy. Indeed it is said that the New Hampshire 
frontiersmen, under the command of Col. Stark, Col. Reed 
and Col. Poor, made up a majority of the American sol- 
diers in this first pitched battle of the Revolution. 



Besides what is said hereafter of Mr. Kidder on page 
26, it may be well to note the legal aspect of his case. As 
his " settlement " was of the kind explained in the para- 
graph beginning at the foot of page 11 (namely, a settle- 
ment for life — taking him "for better or worse," and 
being akin to a marriage dowry) it could be modified there- 
after only by a new agreement between the parties. This 
fact was recognized by both; and a committee, mutually 
chosen, was authorized to make new terms. The committee 
— as it appears — arranged to have Mr. Kidder remain 
with the church, at least as its nominal pastor, so long as 
he was able in some measure to satisfactorily perform his 
ministerial duties. Probably the committee continued to 
serve as a permanent arbiter in the case. Just how early 
Rev. Mr. Sperry began to act as assistant pastor, we are not 
informed. But, on the 3d of November, 1813, — as shown 
on page 8 of the old Record Book of the Church, — Mr. 
Sperry was settled as the regular pastor, and so continued 
until his dismission in 18 19, about a year after Mr. Kidder's 
death. 

Charles Carroll Morgan. 
November, 191 7. 



CONTENTS. 



Indebtedness to our pious ancesters, i; Prof. C. distrusts his 
ability to prepare a suitable tribute, I ; Significance and instructive- 
ness of commemoration days, 2; Wisdom for the Unexplored before 
us, 2; Penetrating the deep shadows of the past, 2; Our gathering, 
for praises and thanksgiving, 2; Era of the Puritans, ended on the 
grant of our charter, 3; Old Dunstable, founded on the eternal prin- 
ciples of the Bible, 3 ; Freedom of Church and State, its basis of civil 
society, 3; No attempt at disseverance of Church and State, 4; Oppo- 
sition to rubric of the Established Church, 4; Congregational princi- 
ples, adopted, 4; A Theocratic System, substituted for a Spiritual 
Democracy, 5; Only church members, to be included in the body 
politic, 5; Union of Church and State, our ancestor's fundamental 
error, 6; Resulting bigotry in State and hypocrisy in Church, 6; 
Law provided for an u able and orthodox minister," 6; Settlers, re- 
quired to provide meeting-house and support minister, 7; Location 
for meeting-house, 7; King Philip's War, 7; John Eliot, the Apostle 
to the Indians, 7; Jonathan Tyng's heroic defense against King Philip, 
7; Vote in 1677 for early settlement and pay of minister, 8; Rude 
meeting-house completed in 1678, 8; Contrast with elegance and ac- 
cessories of present First Church, 8; Old Dunstable's primitive ap- 
pearance and dangers, 8; Character and arrangements of its first 
meeting-house, 9; Rev. Thomas Weld, the first minister, 10; Pecu- 
liarities of the church services, 10; Watch against danger from Indians, 
10; Conversation and attainments of our progenitors, 10; New meet- 
ing-house in 1684, 11; Church organized and Mr. Weld ordained, Dec. 
16, 1685, 11; Pastorate for life, — the " settlement " gift of land, 11; 
Character of new meeting-house, — cost, provided for by taxation, 12; 
Marriage of pastor, calling for extra pay in country produce, 12; Per- 
secution of Congregational clergy by Royal Governor, 12; Frequent 
desertion of residents for fear of Indians, 13; Moneyed help from State, 
13; Pastor's pay, partly in wood, 13; Honorary titles, forbidden, — 
austerities in minor matters, 13; Reverence for public worship, — 
Sabbath breaking, punished, 14; Meeting-house windows, long with- 
out glass, 14; Order and discipline in and around the sanctuary, 14; 
Puritan idea of "an able and Orthodox minister," 15; Death of Rev. 



x Contents. 

Mr. Weld, and personal notes respecting him, 15; Pastorate, long 
vacant, — State help for worship, 16; Ministerial supply by Rev. 
Samuel Hunt and Rev. Samuel Parris, 16; Final State aid to public 
worship, in 1713, 16; Ineffectual attempts to settle a minister, 17; 
Rev. Nathaniel Prentice, the second regular pastor of Dunstable, 17; 
Church contract with Prentice; his pay, marriage, etc., 17; Money 
scarce, — bills of credit issued, — vote for new meeting-house, 17; 
Financial relief, followed by growing luxury and freedom, 18; Charac- 
teristics of Rev. Mr. Prentice and his wife, 18; His death, and inter- 
ment in the Old South burying ground, 19; Growing spirit of disunion 
in religious affairs, 19; Rev. Josiah Swan, third regular pastor of the 
First Church, 19; His ministry, begun in new meeting-house, 19; Dis- 
memberment of old Dunstable, and creation of new townships, 19; 
Nashua, set off to the New Hampshire Province in 1741, 20; A new 
meeting-house, farther North, in 1747, 20; Whitefield's preaching in 
New Hampshire, and its influence, 20; Increase of sectarianism, 21; 
Dissensions in Rev. Mr. Swan's society, causing his resignation, 22; 
Legal recognition of Dunstable, N. H., as an incorporated town, 23; 
Reunion of opposing wings of the First Church, 24; Vote to build a 
new meeting-house, 2 miles below present City Hall, 24; Twenty 
pastorless years follow, 24; Five able ministers, called, but decline 
because of dissensions, 25; Ecclesiastical Council settles disagreements, 
26; Town-meeting adopts " New England Confession of Faith," 26; 
Rev. Joseph Kidder, fourth regular pastor, — in service over 50 years, 
26; Dunstable Theocracy ends with Mr. Kidder, the last minister 
paid by the town, 26; Outbreak of the Revolutionary War, — Mr. 
Kidder declares counsels of God, 27; Dunstable soldiers hear patriotic 
farewell sermon, 27; Inspiration from ministers and orators of the 
Revolution, 28; Records of Hollis Association by Mr. Kidder show 
his ministerial influence, 29; Mr. Kidder's delightful personality, 30; 
His modesty, as scribe of the Hollis Association, 30 ; His lasting memory 
of the Bible, 30; His scrupulous regard for the " little things " of life, 
31; Rev. Ebenezer P. Sperry, his excellent historic records, 31; The 
meeting-house, at that period, 31; Its similarity to the Old South 
Church in Boston, 32; Description of its interior, 33; How the occu- 
pants were accommodated, 33; Sources of warmth, 33; Horse-sheds, 
33; Committee to " dignify the meeting-house," 33; Tything-man's 
duty to keep order, 34; Enjoyment of going to meeting, 34; Sacred 
music in Nashua, 34; Controversy about Psalm-singing in Boston, 35; 
Instrumental music in the churches, 35; Noted Nashua singers, 36; 
Former respect for clergyman by young persons, 36; Decorum a hun- 



Contents, xi 

dred years ago, 36; Puritan reverence for holy places, 37; What con- 
cerned the public weal, viewed in a religious spirit, 37; Prayer or 
preaching on all important public occasions, 37; John Trumbull's 
poetic description of a town meeting, 37 ; Destruction of the old meet- 
ing-house in 1 8 12, 38; New meeting-house, its location, and how built 
and dedicated, 38; Pleasant memory of coming of Union in the midst 
of variety, 38; Different religious societies branching from our eccle- 
siastical tree, 38; Ministers of diverse faiths, privileged in Old South 
pulpit, Nashua, 39; Unitarian and Universalist worship in a room of 
Nashua Mfg. Co.'s first mill, 39; Olive St. church, built by that Co., 
and first occupied by the liberal Christians, 39; Purchase of the Olive 
St. house by the Congregationalists, 39; The old First Church, till 
1820, without a regular pastor more than a third of its life, 40; Pas- 
torate of Rev. Handel G. Nott, beginning in 1826, 40; Its great pros- 
perity till renunciation of his faith in infant baptism, 40; His resigna- 
tion tendered after an ecclesiastical council advised his dismissal, 40; 
A great share of the society wishing him to stay, a majority of the 
church withdraw, 41: Rev. Jonathan McGee, pastor of First Church; 
its sanctuary being called the " Old Chocolate," 41; Excellent success 
of pastor McGee in seven years' service, 41 ; Rev. Matthew Hale 
Smith, ninth regular pastor of First Church, 41 ; His ministry of rare 
efficiency, ended by ill health in about three years, 42; Rev. Samuel 
Lamson's pastorate of two years, ended by ill health, 42; Rev. Daniel 
March, and his eminence as a preacher and writer, 42; Rev. George 
B. Jewett, his bright prospect and distressing accident, 42 ; Rev. Charles 
J. Hill, and his successful pastorate, 43; Rev. Elias C. Hooker and his 
excellent work, ended by ill health, 43 ; Rev. Frederick Alvord, — the 
" Old Chocolate " burned and a better sanctuary provided, 43; No 
list of First Church members up to 1790; number of later members, 43; 
Members, in the ministry or preparing for it, 44; Inherent vitality of 
the Mother Church, 44; Its late fraternal relations with the Olive St. 
Church, 44; Further explanation of its former severance from the 
Olive St., 44; Col. Thomas G. Banks, chief marshal of Bi-Centennial 
Celebration, 45; Rev. Austin Richards' noble pastorate at the Olive 
St. Church, 45; His retirement and the appreciation of his worth, 46; 
Rev. Gustavus D. Pike's service as colleague, and his later advance- 
ment, 46; Rev. Hiram Mead's work for Olive St. Church, and his 
later honors, 46; Rev. James S. Black, and his success, 46; Worthy 
sons of Olive St. Church in the ministry, 46; Division of First Church 
and the Olive St., not caused by its members, 47; The Pearl St. 
Church, a worthy outgrowth from the Olive St., 47; Its prayer meet- 



xii Contents. 

Lags in the Olive St. vestry, 47; Rev. Leonard Swain, its first pastor, 
47; His early manhood and rare personal qualities, 48; His wonderful 
emotional power, shown at graduation from Andover Seminary, 49; 
General character of Dr. Swain's preaching, 50; His social characteris- 
tics, 50; His modesty respecting his sermons, 51 ; His great sermon on 
"God's Ownership of the Sea," 51; His acquaintance with modern 
languages, 51 ; His poetic genius, 51; Excellence of Dr. Swain's prayers, 
52; Rev. Ezra E. Adams, D.D., his estimable character and brief pas- 
torate, 52; Rev. E. W. Greeley's short pastorate, terminated at his 
request, 52; Rev. B. F. Parsons' pastorate and retirement, 52; Rev. 
Wm. L. Gaylord's long pastorate of Pearl St. Church, and later career, 
52; Rev. Charles Wetherby's long pastorate — continuing in 1885, 
53; Membership list of Pearl St. Church in twenty-seven years, 53; 
Its worthy sons, residing elsewhere, 53; Its existing membership and 
large Sabbath-school in 1885, 53; God's providence in the three Con- 
gregational churches, 53; Rise of new sects, Congregational in church 
government, 54; Introduction of Universalism in New Hampshire, 
54; First Universalist society in Nashua, 55; Leading Universalist 
divines who preached there, 55; Organization of the First Universalist 
society in Dunstable, 55; Reorganization of this society; its places 
of worship, 56; Its early pastors — Rev.'s Wm. M. Fernald, A. P. 
Cleverly, L. C. Browne, Wm. H. Ryder, 56; Rev. Charles H. Fay, and 
his marked success, 56; Brief pastorates of Rev.'s O. D. Miller, J. Q. 
Skinner, T. L. Gorman, and G. T. Flanders, 56; Rev. S. H. McCol- 
lister — afterwards President of Buchtel College, 56; Rev. H. A. Phil- 
brook, pastor in 1885, 56; Flourishing Universalist Sunday-school, 
established by C. P. Danforth, Esq., 56; This school, the originator of 
Sunday-school "concerts" in Nashua, 57; Ministers who were once 
members of this school, 57; Origin of the First Baptist Society of 
Dunstable, 57; Punishment, under the old Theocracy, of opponents 
of pedo-baptist principles, 57; Spread of Baptist principles in New 
Hampshire, 58; Baptist preachers, — A strange incident, emblematic 
of descent of the Holy Spirit, 58; Organization of the First Baptist 
Church, — its early place of worship, 58 ; Its next place of worship, 
the Old South Meeting-house, 59; Rev. Bartlett Pease, early minister; 
Rev. Caleb Shute, first pastor, 59; Rev. Dura M. Pratt, next pastor 

— remaining many years, until his death, 59; Rev. W. H. Eaton, his 
successor, — afterwards, head of institution at New London, 59 ; Rev. 
H. H. Rhees' brief pastorate; Rev. G. W. Nicholson, pastor in 1885, 

— large Protestant parish, 59; A second Baptist church, outgrowth 
of the former, 60; Free-Will Baptist church, early established, 6a; 



Contents. xiii 

Its short life, its four successive pastors, and its house of worship, 61; 
The denomination, called " Christians," — its short life in Nashua, 61; 
Origin of First Unitarian Congregational Society in Dunstable, 61; 
Olive St. church-building, erected by Nashua Mfg. Co.; first occu- 
pied by Unitarians, 61; Rev. Nathaniel Gage, its first pastor, 62; 
Rev. Mr. Emmons, its second pastor — early resigning, 62; Rev. 
Samuel Osgood, his broad views and later eminence, 62; His published 
writings and translations, 63; Vacancy in Unitarian pastorate, briefly 
filled by Rev. A. C. L. Arnold, 63; Rev. Samuel G. Bulfinch's pastorate; 
his high character and literary ability, 63; Rev. Martin W. Willis' 
seven years' pastorate, 63; Rev. Minot G. Gage's five years' pastorate, 
63; Rev. Clarence Fowler's brief pastorate, 63; Rev. Thomas L. 
Gorman, acting pastor eleven years, 64; Thriving Unitarian Sabbath- 
school, Dea. John A. Baldwin, many years Supt., 64; James L. Pierce, 
long time Sabbath-school Superintendent, 64; Methodism, its rise 
and wonderful growth, 64; Its late coming to Dunstable, 65; Early 
opposition to it in Nashua, 65; Prejudice overcome, and a Methodist 
church built, 65; Temporary discouragement, relieved by Rev. Wm. 
D. Cass, 66; Series of efficient pastors, 66; House of worship enlarged, 
and parsonage built, 66; 111 results following separation of Nashville 
from Nashua, 66; A short-lived Wesleyan Methodist Society, 67; Its 
promotion of temperance reform, 67; Chestnut St. Methodist Society, 
67; Its worthy pastors and their success, 68; Two of them, honored 
in the political world, and one in military life, 68; Episcopacy, its 
origin in Nashua, 68; Unfortunate location of church, leading to its 
abandonment, 69; Services resumed in a hall, four years afterwards, 
69; Residents of Nashua becoming Episcopal clergymen, 69; First 
Catholic Irish family settling in Nashua, 69; Other Irish drawn here 
to build the Wilton Railroad, 70; Father O'Donnell's coming, and the 
Catholic church built on Temple St., 70; Other foreigners attracted 
here by the increasing industries, 70; French Catholic population ex- 
ceeding the Irish, 71 ; Father O'Donnell gains respect of his Protestant 
neighbors; indulges his humor, 71; His valuable service as a member 
of the school board, 72; Father Millette, founder of the French Catho- 
lic Church, highly esteemed by the English stock, 72; Catholic priest- 
hood welcomed in proclaiming the saving power of Christ, 72; Prof. 
Churchill's apology for deficiencies of his Address, 73; Wishes he could 
have shown more of the men he mentions, by their words and work, 
73; Gracious admonitions, in view of the past, 74; Warnings, suggested 
by career of our forefathers, 74; Their spirits may yet be with us, 75; 
Fidelity to our trust calls for a renewal of our pledge to Christ, 76. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Young John the Baptist, Pointing the Way of Salvation .... I 

John Eliot, Apostle to the Indians* 7 

Sketch of First Meeting-House in Dunstable-Nashua 9 

Rev. Habijah Weld, Son of Rev. Thomas Weld 13 

Old Burying Ground in Dunstable-Nashua 15 

Old Olive Street Church 39 

11 Old Chocolate " Church 43 

Old South Burying Ground 55 

Old First Baptist Church 60 

Old Wesleyan Methodist Church 66 

Old Episcopal Church 69 



Prof. John Wesley Churchill 79 

Present First Congregational Church 88 

Bronze Tablet Inscription to Prof. Churchill 91 



* See Appendix, page 93. 




Raphael — A.D. 1483 to 1520 . Ufizzi Gallery, Florence 

Young John the Baptist, Pointing the Way of Salvation, 



ADDRESS TO THE 
NASHUA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



Note. For a needful understanding of the difficulties expe- 
rienced in the preparation of this address and of the reason why 
its publication in book form has been so long delayed, it is desirable 
to read first the foregoing Introduction. 

Old Mortality, the wandering religious enthusiast so 
vividly described by Sir Walter Scott, induced by motives 
of the most sincere but fanciful devotion, dedicated thirty 
years of his existence to clearing the moss from the gray 
tomb-stones, and renewing with his chisel the half-defaced 
inscriptions on the simple monuments of the deceased 
warriors of his church, who had fought, fallen and suffered 
for their religion in their struggles against the cruel tyranny 
of the Stuarts. On anniversary days like these, we con- 
sider, with Old Mortality, that we are " fulfilling a sacred 
duty while renewing to the eyes of posterity the decaying 
emblems of the zeal and sufferings of our ancestors." We 
brush the ancient dust from their names, we tear away the 
moss from the record of their deeds, and retrace the fading 
lines. In imagination we roll away the stone from their 
sepulchres and bid their revered forms to pass before us. 

In paying this tribute to their memory, I am deeply 
sensible that grayer heads than mine should bend over the 
work; hands more skillful than mine should chisel deeper 
the inscriptions that shall render their memory fresher and 
more abiding. Sincere as is my self-distrust, there is en- 
couragement in the thought that the occasion itself carries 
its own enjoyment in the quickening thoughts of kindred 
and ancestry, and in the realization of our connection with 
the achievements of the past. 



2 Puritan Ancestry. 

Commemoration days like these, my fellow-citizens, 
are not only full of interest, they are exceedingly significant 
and instructive ; we cherish them as we would the blossoms 
of Century Plants. We stand to-day on the verge of 
one of those great periods by which the age of states and 
nations is counted. We take a look backward that we 
may gather wisdom for the Unexplored that lies before us. 
Time, in his advance of two centuries, has thrown behind 
him a deep shadow, covering many a name, many a scene, 
and many an event inseparably intermingled with the for- 
tunes of the present and the hopes of the future. You bid 
me take the antiquarian's torch and penetrate the dark 
corners, and seek for the hidden things of our history that 
you may have a distincter knowledge and a closer appre- 
ciation of the beginnings of our goodly heritage. We but 
discharge a debt of common gratitude in calling up to 
grateful recollection the men by whom our precious joint- 
inheritance was acquired, preserved and bequeathed. 
They ought not to be forgotten. We should be recreant 
sons of worthy sires if we displayed such an insensibility 
to our lineage from a brave and godly ancestry as to suffer 
this centennial season to pass unnoticed and unhonored. 

The pious office to the Past, assigned me by the com- 
mittee at whose invitation I occupy this place, has been 
limited to a distinct province in the history of our muni- 
cipality. In discharging the honorable trust, I am anxious 
that this holy day should be occupied with thoughts and 
memories belonging to us, not merely as fellow-citizens and 
friends, as a band of brothers and sisters, but as members 
of a Christian community, as a Christian brotherhood, 
gathered around the ancestral hearthstone for praises and 
thanksgiving at Family Worship. 

We are not without justification in our meeting to-day. 
True, our ancestors were not the Pilgrims themselves. The 



First Dunstable Families. 3 

era of the Puritans had just terminated when our own 
charter was granted. Half a century and more had passed 
since Carver and Bradford landed on Plymouth Rock. 
Old Simon Bradstreet, the " last of the Puritans,'' and the 
last Puritan Governor of Massachusetts, entered upon his 
office only four years after our First church was organized. 
Puritan severity was gradually softening. English habits, 
tastes and prejudices were modified in the Anglo-American 
society of the second generation in Massachusetts. 

To the early settlers of Dunstable, portrayals of 
the deeds and sufferings of the Puritans in England and 
America were like tales of other times. No: we have no 
forefathers' rock to boast of; no charter oak; no cellar 
that concealed royal judges. Nevertheless, Puritan blood 
flows in our veins. Our ancestors helped to plant inesti- 
mable civil and religious institutions. The character of 
Old Dunstable as a town was sustained in early days upon 
the solid basis on which the Fathers of Massachusetts con- 
structed their commonwealth — the eternal principles of 
the Bible. We may affirm of our ancestors, as we speak 
of the Pilgrims, that they were pre-eminently religious men. 

Many of the first families of Dunstable came from 
Boston and the Old Massachusetts Bay Colony. We are 
within 40 years of being as old as the venerable city of 
Boston. With confidence and pride, then, may we claim 
our direct descent in character and in principles from the 
Pilgrim settlers of New England. Like the men of Plym- 
outh, our fathers found the elements out of which they 
built their political system in God's written Revelation. 
The Bible furnished them with the forms and institutions 
of the State as well as of the Church. The Biblical prin- 
ciples for the formation of civil society, they organized and 
transmitted to us. "Freedom in the Church, and Freedom 
in the State, " a " Free Church in a Free State " were still 



4 Spiritual Democracy. 

the rallying points of the fathers of Dunstable, as in the 
days when the domination of the English hierarchy was 
so galling, and hereditary ecclesiastical privileges were so 
oppressive and hateful to Robinson, Carver, and Bradford. 
It was not the purely political part of the English 
Government that the Puritans objected to. They did not 
seek to dissever the Church from the State. They were 
" reformers within the Establishment." But when Queen 
Elizabeth demanded in her arbitrary way that absolute 
uniformity of worship must be observed according to the 
rubric of the Established Church the Non-conformists re- 
fused compliance in respect to certain portions, considering 
them to be relics of Popery. They waited patiently for 
the coming of better days. Waiting in vain, they finally 
withdrew from the Mother Church. They went to the 
Bible for counsel, and discovered the two fundamental 
principles of their Congregationalism, viz. : 

1. The several churches are altogether independent 
of one another. 

2. Evidence of the requisite qualifications of church- 
membership is required by the church before admission to 
the Lord's Supper. 

These Christians asked the State-Church of England 
the privilege of worshipping on these two principles; and 
it being denied them, they took refuge from their persecu- 
tions in Holland and in America. I need not repeat the 
oft- told tale of the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock. 
The Plymouth Colonists then endeavored to realize the 
old dream of Plato — to create a government of ideal per- 
fection, which, he said, " could not come into being until 
kings are philosophers, or philosophers are kings." They 
founded their Spiritual Democracy. The Church was to 
be entirely independent of the dictation of the civil power; 
and the purity of the Church itself must be maintained 



Church Government. 5 

as a spiritual body. Upon both these points the " Pilgrim 
Fathers " were beyond the Massachusetts Bay Colony 
(chartered a few years after the settlement of Plymouth) from 
which Colony the settlers of Old Dunstable sprung. They 
were mostly Puritans; but in their organization of church 
and state, they departed somewhat from the Spiritual 
Democracy of Plymouth, and fell into the Theocratic 
system. Realizing that good government depended pri- 
marily on good and able men, and wishing also to preserve 
the Church order in which they so devoutly believed, 
they decreed by a vote of the First General Court " that, 
for the time to come, no persons shall be admitted to the 
Freedom of this body politic, but such as are members of 
some of the churches within the same." It was also made 
the duty of each town in the Province to " take due care 
from time to time to be constantly provided of an able and 
learned orthodox minister who should be suitably main- 
tained by the inhabitants of the town." 

Afterwards, when mere commercial adventurers joined 
the Colonies, laws were passed compelling attendance upon 
public worship, forbidding the formation of churches of 
diverse doctrine and government, punishing blasphemy, 
profaneness, Sabbath-breaking, and heresy, as crimes, — 
requiring that a " free-man," or voter in the town meeting, 
should be "of good personal character " and " Orthodox 
in the fundamentals of religion," and thereby restricting 
civil offices and privileges to members of the church. Any 
person to whom " Religion was as twelve and the world 
as thirteen " was reckoned as unworthy of citizenship in 
the Christian Commonwealth. Such a Church-State was 
in reality an Established Church. It was the principle of 
the English Establishment adapted to their new circum- 
stances. The Congregational Church was the Established 
Church of New England. There was to be no Episcopal 



6 Public Support of Churches. 

hierarchy. They wanted a Church without a Bishop, a 
State without a King; but the State was to unfold within 
the Church. This union of Church and State was the 
fundamental error of the Colonists. While their deep 
religious spirit was the source of their virtues, their appli- 
cation of it to the civil government was the source of their 
errors and their faults. The theocratic system produced 
bigotry in the State and hypocrisy in the Church. But 
as time went on, this theory of Government was happily 
exploded. The church in convention declared that "it is 
not in the power of magistrates to compel their subjects to 
become church members, and, as it is unlawful for church 
officers to meddle with the sword of the magistrate, so it 
is unlawful for the magistrate to meddle with the work 
proper to church officers." The fires of the Revolution 
"which welded the Colonies together, consumed the dross 
of establishment, of patronage, and of theocracy, and left 
the pure gold of Religious liberty to be wrought into the 
National Constitution." 

I have digressed into antecedent history in order 
that we may get out of our own age into the times in which 
our early church was organized, so that we may better 
comprehend their existing beliefs and their existing re- 
ligious and political condition. In this way we can see 
that many outward things which were right and wrong to 
our fathers are not our right and wrong in similar matters; 
and that many of their laws and measures were not the 
outgrowth of their spirit or their faith, but sprung from 
the spirit of their age and the political necessities of the 
hour. 

In accordance with the laws of the General Court 
concerning the providing of an " able and orthodox min- 
ister," Edward Tyng, Peter Bulkley, Elisha Hutchinson, 
and the other proprietors of the Township of Dunstable, 



■ . . 




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V i 


I : '' 


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3p v = 


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John Eliot 



Dealings with Indians. 7 

stipulated with the settlers of the town for the erection of a 
11 meeting-house " and the support of a minister. At the 
very beginning of the settlement they erected the new 
social fabric on the two pillars of Religion and Liberty. 
A few months after the charter was granted, the proprietors 
met the settlers at Lieut. Joseph Wheeler's and drew up a 
written agreement. Among other conditions readily sub- 
scribed to, it was provided that " the meeting-house which 
is to be erected shall stand between Salmon Brook and the 
house of Lieut. Wheeler, as convenient as may be for the 
accommodation of both." During the next summer, in 
1675, before the meeting-house was completed, occurred 
the outbreak of the dreadful conflict so well known in New 
England history by the name of King Philip's War. Dun- 
stable had been one of the " six places " where the " praying 
Indians " held their religious meetings. Hither came 
Eliot, the noble and self-sacrificing Apostle of the Indians, 
who had vainly endeavored to convert the fierce, proud 
Philip to the Christian faith. The settlers of Dunstable 
were placed in such peril, from the active enmity of the 
hostile Indians and the suspected treachery of the Christian 
Indians, that by mid-winter not a family remained in the 
settlement, with one conspicuous and praiseworthy ex- 
ception. The resolute Jonathan Tyng determined to 
fortify his house and defend it to the last extremity. On 
this account he may rightfully be considered as the earliest 
permanent settler of the old township. In August, 1676, 
the war was terminated by the death of King Philip. One 
by one the scattered families returned to their homes from 
their temporary residences in the larger towns whence they 
had fled as to cities of refuge. They found their cabins 
comparatively unmolested. A town meeting of the pro- 
prietors and settlers was held as soon as possible, in Woburn, 
in 1677: and it was agreed upon and voted " that, as soon 



8 First Church of Christ in Dunstable. 

as may be, a minister be settled in the town of Dunstable, 
— his pay to be in money or, if in other pay, the rate being 
to be made as money to add a third part more." 

"It was also voted that the minister the first year shall 
have fifty pounds [equal to about $300 now], and the over- 
plus of the farmes, are never to be abated." The Meeting- 
house, so hastily left unfinished, was completed in 1678. 
Are we to think, as we sit beneath this ample pavilion, 
adorned by the hand of taste, that, merely because 'tis 
spread on the soil of old Dunstable, we see the place as 
Jonathan Tyng and his fellow-settlers saw it? Do we 
suppose that the comfort and elegance of the churches in 
which we worshipped, this morning, suggest to us the first 
church ever erected in Nashua? Instead of " going to 
church " to-day at the First Church, and enjoying the 
cushioned seats, the carpeted aisles, the delicately fres- 
coed walls, the softened light streaming through stained- 
glass windows, the brief discourse of half an hour, and the 
inspiring anthem from cultivated voices, or joining in the 
hymn to a tune adapted from some operatic air, though 
possibly all the better for that, — instead of going to church, 
I say, under these delightful circumstances, let us "go 
to meeting " this afternoon at the First Church, with Jona- 
than Tyng and his friends and neighbors. Do not forget 
your trusty fowling-piece; for you may hear the click of 
a gun-lock, from some thicket, that shall make your flesh, 
creep with terror. These paved and well-trodden streets 
are obliterated. The elms and maples that adorn them in 
orderly regularity are straggling forest trees of oak and pine. 
These fair marks of trade are annihilated. Not a building 
interrupts the desolation of the broad, unfenced, white- 
pine forest of " Dunstable Plains " from the Nashua to 
Salmon Brook, nor will it for a hundred years to come. If 
you pick your way along the narrow path that we can 



The Old First Church. 9 

barely call a road, you will do well to watch narrowly the 
falling leaves in the shadows of the wood ; for what appears 
to be a leaf, which October has touched with her autumnal 
tints, may be the red feather of a stealthy savage lurking 
behind that rugged oak. A walk of an hour or less through 
the forest, with minds solemnized by the mournful sighing 
of the " melancholy pines," will bring us to Salmon Brook. 
We cross no iron rails; we see no warning flag of red, and 
hear no whistle's piercing scream; nor shall we for a cen- 
tury and a half to come; they are yet undreamed of. As 
you cross the rude bridge of logs, fail not to carefully notice 
that gleam of sunlight, which seems to be the reflection 
from the rippling water; for it may be the flash of a scalping- 
knife. The rapid current of the brook is unchecked by a 
mill-wheel, and ripples on against the rocks and amongst 
the hazel thickets that overhang its banks, till it gleefully 
leaps into the bosom of the Merrimack. 

A few low cabins are ranged along the north and south 
sides of the brook. On the southerly side, half way be- 
tween the brook and Lieut. Wheeler's, we come upon a 
log-house, about twenty feet square, with a low, thatched 
roof about ten feet from the ground, without a pane of 
glass, or a foot of lath and plaster to adorn the edifice, — 
and we find ourselves at the First Church, in the first village 
of Dunstable. We who go in families must not sit together 
on those backless seats of rough-hewn logs, placed on either 
side of the broad aisle. The grave wives and mothers 
and the grown-up daughters, in their sober attire, go to the 
left; while the fathers, not less grave, and the grown-up 
boys, file away to the right. Lovers and sweethearts find 
it hard to be separated for four mortal hours; and the 
small boys and girls, seated either in the aisle or on the 
" hind seats," so that they can be easily watched and repri- 
manded, find it harder yet to pass the dreary time, as they 



io The First Settled Minister. 

vainly strive to bring their elastic faces into the proper 
stiffness suited to the solemnity of the place and the day. 
In the primitive pulpit stands a young man of twenty-six 
— Thomas Weld, the first minister of Dunstable. He is 
only seven years out of Harvard College, and not yet or- 
dained; but he is already the leading man of the settle- 
ment, and one of the original proprietors. He was a 
classmate of Samuel Sewall, Chief Justice of the Colony. 
The Psalms that he " lines off " for our singing are from 
the " Translation of the Psalms into metre for the use of 
the Churches of New England," made by his grandfather, 
the Rev. Thos. Weld of Roxbury, one of the most eminent 
men of his day. He and his fellow translator were selected, 
not because they possessed any poetic genius, but because 
they were " most pious and godly men." On pain of ex- 
communication let us not suffer a smile to wreath our 
faces as we sing the ludicrous lines. Like Gov. John 
Winthrop, young Thomas Weld " hath a gift at exhorta- 
tion," and he easily holds his delighted hearers — the 
children excepted — through a four hours' service. 

After sharpening their intellectual appetites, our 
worthy progenitors slowly make their way home, still with 
rifle in hand and a sharp lookout for an Indian, but ab- 
sorbed in discussing, not stocks, nor railroad speculations, 
nor political operations, but the exciting and dividing 
questions of the day: " Whether a believer is more than 
a creature? " " Whether a man may be justified before 
he believes? " " Whether a man might not attain to 
any sanctification in gifts and graces, and have spiritual 
and continual communion with Jesus Christ, and yet be 
damned? " Scripture is at their tongues' end. Every 
thought and circumstance is pointed with an appropriate 
text. The conversation doubtless had, as Thomas Hutch- 
inson said of an old Puritan's correspondence with his wife, 



Priority of Churches in N. H. n 

" too much religion in it for the taste of the present day." 
Not because there is less piety in our day, but because the 
methods of reasoning and mental habits have undergone 
a change, as well as the nature of the topics of discussion 
and the customs of society. 

For six years this rude building was used for religious 
purposes, but as yet no church organization was formed. 
In 1684 a new meeting-house was built, and the next year 
a church was legally organized, consisting of seven male 
members, viz. : Jonathan Tyng, John Cummings senior, 
John Blanchard, Cornelius Waldo, Samuel Warner, Samuel 
French, and Obadiah Perry who was killed by the Indi- 
ans six years afterwards. John Blanchard and Corne- 
lius Waldo were chosen deacons. On the same day that 
the church was organized Mr. Weld was ordained; and the 
1 6th of December, 1685, marks the real birth-day of the 
church of Old Dunstable. 

The church was the fifth in order of church organiza- 
tions in New Hampshire — those at Portsmouth, Dover, 
Exeter, and Hampton having been formed nearly fifty 
years before, in 1638. 

For twelve years after the charter of Dunstable was 
granted there had been preaching, but no church or or- 
ganization. Mr. Weld had supplied the pulpit with con- 
siderable constancy, but without a legal settlement — 
war and poverty having prevented the organization up 
to 1685. 

The salaries in the early times may seem to us to have 
been very small; but relatively to the times they afforded 
a very fair support. Mr. Weld was " passing rich with 
fifty pounds a year." In addition to his salary, he had 
the customary "settlement " which the town voted their 
ministers for nearly a hundred and fifty years. In these 
early times a town settled a minister for life, taking him 



12 The Second Meeting-House. 

"for better, for worse;" and the " settlement " was the 
marriage dowry. The settlement varied as the circum- 
stances of the town changed. Mr. Weld's " encourage- 
ment" to settle was six hundred acres of land, called " the 
ministerial lot." It was about five miles below the present 
City Hall, and the principal part of it was the farm known 
to us as John Little's. 

To accommodate the growing wants of the inhabitants, 
a second meeting-house was built in 1683 " according to 
the dimensions of the meeting-house at Groton." It 
corresponded in size and convenience to the increased 
wealth and population of the place, and cost about four 
hundred dollars. To defray the expense, a tax was im- 
posed of twenty shillings, or about $3.00, upon every 
" thirty-acre right." It was in this house, and not in the 
original one, that Mr. Weld held services during his settled 
ministry. About four years previous to his ordination, 
he married a daughter of John Wilson, of Medfield, a son 
of the eminent first minister of Boston. After marriage 
his expenses naturally increased. Money was difficult 
to be obtained, and much of his salary came in the shape 
of " country pay " or produce. Mr. Weld appreciated the 
financial aspects of the times; for he was not willing to 
14 accept of one-third advance from those that pay him in 
money as proposed, but accepts to have double the sum of 
such as pay not in money.'" His residence in Dunstable, 
Mass., protected him from the pecuniary embarassments 
of his four ministerial brethren in New Hampshire. Gov. 
Cranfield, the Royal Governor of the State, issued his 
decree against the Congregational clergy, ordering their 
" dues to be withheld," and threatening them with six 
months' imprisonment for not administering the sacra- 
ments according to the Church of England. 

But hard times were coming to the faithful minister 



Simplicity of Life. 13 

of Dunstable as well as to the settlers. The town was so 
frequently deserted, through fear of the Indians, that the 
support of the minister became very burdensome to the 
twenty-five families who remained. The General Court, 
however, came to their assistance for four successive years, 
granting them sums ranging from twelve to thirty pounds 
per annum. Various sums were granted during the history 
of the church succeeding Mr. Weld's ministry. To help 
their pastor bear his burdens during this trying period, 
every inhabitant was ordered to bring half a cord of wood 
to Mr. Weld by the first of November, 1697, or forfeit 
five shillings [50 cts.] for each neglect. This supply was in 
addition to his salary. Wood at this time was about a 
dollar a cord. The wood-rate was afterwards increased 
and assessed according to the ability of the inhabitants. 
By the depreciation of money, Mr. Weld's salary in 1699 
was reduced to about fifty dollars. The wood-rate was 
consequently increased, and nineteen cords of wood were 
ordered for the minister. It is worthy of notice that Mr. 
Weld had to help pay his own salary; for he was assessed 
like any inhabitant both for the wood-rate and the minister- 
tax. 

The fundamental principle of the equality of all men 
before God was rigorously observed. All titles were for- 
bidden Mr. Weld. Even plain " Mr. " was not allowed, 
either to clergyman or layman. The simple prefix of 
" Rev." was considered " an innovation of vanity." The 
austerity of our fathers was carried into minor matters. 
Dancing at weddings was forbidden. William Walker, 
one of the colonists, was imprisoned a month for courting 
a maid without the consent of her parents. Long hair 
or periwigs, and " superstitious ribands," to tie up and 
decorate the hair, were strongly prohibited. All ornament 
was " a vain show, and beauty a Delilah." Christmas 



14 Rigorous Laws and Customs. 

was a Popish day and not to be observed. To turn the 
back upon the public worship before it was finished and 
the blessing pronounced was " profaneness," and was 
prohibited by law. A " cage " was erected near the 
meeting-house for the confinement of all offenders against 
the Sabbath. One Sunday, John Atherton, a soldier in 
Col. Tyng's company, most scandalously profaned the day 
by wetting a piece of an old hat to put into his shoes, which 
chafed his feet on the march. He was fined forty shillings 
for his flagrant wickedness. Three months' intentional 
absence from the church brought the offender to the public 
whipping post. Even in Harvard College, students were 
whipped in the presence of Professors and fellow-students 
for grave offences committed in the chapel. The order 
of exercises for infliction of the penalty was first, prayer; 
second, the whipping; third, a closing prayer. 

No Sabbath bell " knolled them to church." The 
plain, unsteepled, barn-like meeting-house never resounded 
to an organ or to a profane instrument of any kind. The 
windows of the humble edifice, neither large nor numerous, 
were guiltless of a pane of glass for fifteen years. Neatness 
and propriety reigned without and within. A widow lady 
kept the meeting-house clean and took care that no damage 
came to the glass. The tything-man kept his eye on the 
boys in the broad aisle and the " hind seats " that they 
might be " watched over according to law." Loose stones 
were cleared away outside the house. A new horse block 
was set up. All persons were forbidden to tie their horses 
to the meeting-house ladder. No " faithful dog could bear 
his master company " within the sacred precincts, and every 
dog was sore afraid of Samuel Goold, who was " chosen 
dog-whipper for the meeting-house." Amongst this " pecu- 
liar people," rigidly conforming to laws and customs like 
these, Thomas Weld spent the greater part of his life, 




Old Burying Ground in Dunstable-Nashua. 

Monument at the Right (distant from Gate) Marking Graves of 
Pastors Weld and Prentice. 



Noble Character of Rev. Mr. Weld. 15 

ministering faithfully to them in their homes and from the 
pulpit according to the Puritan idea of an able and Ortho- 
dox minister. He was in very truth as the " voice of one 
crying in the wilderness." On the 9th day of June, 1702, 
at the age of fifty years, the beloved pastor of Dunstable 
closed his ministry with his life. Accurate history dis- 
credits the tradition that he was killed by the Indians in an 
attack on his garrison. The record of his life is meagre and 
obscure. He was a native of Roxbury, Mass., and was 
born of a distinguished ancestry. He studied divinity 
with his uncle, Rev. Samuel Danforth, a celebrated minister; 
and came to Dunstable in 1678. Some years after the 
death of his first wife he married Hannah, the daughter 
of Hon. Edward Tyng, one of his fellow-citizens. Mrs. 
Weld survived her husband many years. The historian 
of the times says that he was a distinguished man, and 
esteemed for his fervent piety and exemplary life. 

As we think of this first minister of ours, whose godly 
life and character was so interwoven with our history, and 
whose cultivated Christian intelligence did so much toward 
shaping the progress and securing the prosperity of the 
town, but whose name has been remanded to obscurity, 
with not even an inscription upon his gravestone, we 
associate his fate with that of the apostolic Robinson, the 
first minister of the exiled Puritans, to whose far-seeing 
wisdom we owe the inheritance of New England, but for 
whose mortal remains " the old world could not afford the 
allotment of a permanent grave." 

A successor to Mr. Weld was not provided until 1720 
— a period of eighteen years after the death of the first 
pastor, — but religious services were not suspended in the 
meantime, and several honest attempts were made to settle 
a minister. The vacancies occurred in distressful times, 
and the General Court granted generous sums for the sup- 



1 6 Unsettled Ministers and Their Support. 

port of preaching. The Rev. Samuel Hunt, a graduate of 
Harvard College, was the minister for about five years until 
he was ordered to a Chaplaincy in the expedition to Port 
Royal. 

New Hampshire had been comparatively free from 
the wretched witchcraft delusion. Portsmouth had a few 
cases, but the panic was confined to that town. Had there 
been a witch in Dunstable, it would have been discovered; 
for the minister who succeeded Mr. Hunt was the Rev. 
Samuel Parris, who was previously settled at Salem, and 
in whose family the scenes of the tragedy commenced, 
and whose children originated the wicked acts which led 
to the death of so many innocent persons. Mr. Parris re- 
mained here four years. Public worship still continued 
through the aid given by the General Court. The last 
assistance was given in 17 13. Peace was now restored, 
population increased, farms were extended, and the people 
were able to pay for their Sabbath service. 

During the next seven years the town made three 
ineffectual attempts to settle a minister. Liberal offers 
were made to three graduates of Harvard, Rev. Messrs. 
Amos Cheever, John Pierpont, and Enoch Coffin. Mr. 
Cheever and Mr. Pierpont declined their calls. Mr. Coffin 
accepted the offer of a " settlement " of eighty pounds and 
ten acres of meadow land and two hundred acres of com- 
mon land, with an annual salary of eighty pounds; but he 
was never ordained. 

With so much uncertainty and indecision in ecclesias- 
tical affairs during this long period, we do not wonder at 
the facetious remark ot Col. Taylor to Gov. Burnet — 
who was a staunch Churchman and unaccustomed to the 
long graces at the tables of the Colonists, — and who, 
on his first journey from New York, to assume his Gover- 
norship of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, inquired of 



Money Stress ', — Second Regular Minister. 17 

Col. Taylor when the graces would shorten. The Colonel 
replied, " The graces will increase in length until you come 
to Boston; after that they will shorten until you come to 
your government in New Hampshire, when your Excellency 
will find no grace at all." 

But the grace of preaching was restored to the town 
in 1720, when the Rev. Nathaniel Prentice was ordained 
as the second regular pastor of Dunstable. He, too, was 
a son of Harvard, of the class of 17 14. The fathers learned 
wisdom from their experience with Mr. Coffin, and stipu- 
lated that Mr. Prentice should not " enter upon his salary " 
until after his ordination. Soon after, it was voted " that 
when Mr. Prentice comes to keep house and have a family 
and stands in need of a larger supply, then to add Reasonable 
Additions to his salary, if our abilities will afford it." Mr. 
Prentice soon after was married to Mary Tyng, a daughter 
of Judge William Tyng; and according to promise he was 
allowed " a large supply of wood," or ten pounds of passable 
money " in lew thereof yearly." 

About this time (1721) there was a universal scarcity of 
money; and the General Assembly of Massachusetts issued 
bills of credit to the amount of £50,000, " to be distributed 
among the several towns in proportion to the public taxes." 
This popular mode of making money induced the Assembly 
over six years afterward to issue £60,000 more. The 
share that fell to Dunstable was loaned to Rev. Mr. Prentice 
"to be applied in payment of his future salary as it shall 
become due." Money was plenty; and, as the old meeting- 
house had grown so old and out of repair as not to be 
" decent," it was voted that it would be unwise to " rectify " 
the old one, but that a new one should be built about four 
rods westward of where the meeting-house then stood. 
The house was not built, however, until 1738, after the 
death of Mr. Prentice. 



1 8 Growing Luxury and Freedom. 

The financial prosperity of the town brought a 
spirit of worldiness into the settlement. The families of 
the royal officers in the colony introduced extravagant 
fashions and styles of living from England. Religion began 
to be as twelve, and the world as thirteen. Puritan sim- 
plicity gradually assumed the airs of luxury and ambition. 
The little society in Dunstable was afflicted by it. It was 
voted that Lieut. Henry Farwell and Joseph Blanchard 
should have the liberty to erect for themselves two pews 
on their own charge at the west end of the meeting-house. 
It proved to be a dangerous precedent. The example was 
contagious, and within two months it was voted that " there 
be four pews erected in the meeting-house; " and Sergeant 
Colburn, Sergeant Perham, Nathaniel Cummings and 
Oliver Farwell each took up a pew and could now worship 
God and claim the favor of Heaven on an equality with 
Henry Farwell and John Blanchard. 

Mr. Prentice was a very popular minister and remained 
with his people until his death. He was possessed of fine 
social qualities and excellent talent. An early historian 
says that he was " a man of wit and a good sermonizer." 
Not a little of his popularity was due to his wife. In that 
forest life she was the Diana of the region. Her engaging 
manners, activity, and courage were much admired by 
her parishioners; and their pride in their " minister's wife " 
was increased by the reputation she had made for herself 
beyond their own limited social circle. In what small 
esteem she held the conventionalities of life may be in- 
ferred from her fondness for gunning. Mary Prentice 
was a good shot. She was always present at a shooting- 
match. A fowling piece is still in possession of the Prentice 
family which she won at a target-shooting, where the gun 
was set up for a prize. The parson was present at the time 
and participated in the sport. We have no record that he 
ever wrote a work on " The Perfect Gun." 



Third Regular Minister. 19 

Mr. Prentice's life was not a long one. He died in 
1737 at the early age of forty. In his will he bequeathed 
nearly all his property to Mary, his wife;" as I had of her 
six or seven hundred pounds which she let go to pay my 
debts, and the rest she spent in the family to keep us alive, 
I think I am in conscience bound to give her an equivalent." 
A worthy successor of Mr. Weld, he rests near his predeces- 
sor in the Old South burying ground, with no stone or in- 
scription to mark his resting-place. 

We now enter upon the second phase of the ecclesias- 
tical history of Dunstable. The leading peculiarity of this 
period is the spirit of disunion which appeared to disturb 
the harmony and peace that had prevailed amidst all the 
vicissitudes of half a century. 

The church had been without a pastor only two years 
after the death of Mr. Prentice when it welcomed to its 
pulpit with pardonable pride a baptized son of the church — 
Josiah Swan. He had grown up among them, and had been 
educated for the ministry at Cambridge. By his ordina- 
tion in 1738, he became the third pastor of the church. 
Like both of his predecessors, he found his wife among the 
daughters of the church; yet unlike them, he did not find 
her among the Tyngs, but sought her among the Blanch- 
ards, — and Jane Blanchard became his wife the following 
year. The new minister began his ministry in the new 
meeting-house — which had been voted for, six years before, 
but had not been built until his agreement to settle. It 
stood near the old burying-ground not far from the State 
line, having been built for the accommodation of the origi- 
nal township. During the six years previous to Mr. Swan's 
ordination great municipal changes had been at work. 
The township was dismembered. One after another, new 
townships were set off from the original grant, and Hudson, 
Litchfield, Merrimack, Hollis, and Brookline, sprang into 



20 Disintegration of Old Dunstable. 

existence as separate incorporations; until, by 1740, old 
Dunstable was reduced to the limits of what is now known 
as Nashua, Tyngsborough, and Dunstable, Mass. After 
violent struggles, which generally attend the separation of 
common interests, old Dunstable was severed nearly in 
the middle; and in 1741, Nashua of the present, with a 
large majority of the inhabitants, was set off to the upper 
Province, and was called Dunstable, New Hampshire. 

The church was naturally affected by the animosities 
and controversies. A single church could no longer stretch 
its wings over so many districts, and the loss of many 
former members rendered it difficult to support a minister. 

Another consequence of the division of the town was 
the necessity for a new meeting-house. The population 
was widely scattered. A diversity of interests prevented 
the selection of a location satisfactory to all parties; and 
the town finally voted, in June, 1746, to have the preaching 
in Ephraim Lund's barn. Jonathan Lovewell, a brother 
of the famous Capt. John Lovewell, of " Lovewell's Fight," 
proposed, in company with others, to build the meeting- 
house at their own expense, provided they could sell all 
the wall pews for their own benefit. After much warm 
discussion, the town accepted the proposal, and the church 
was built in 1747, a few rods north of the Old South Church. 

Other causes of dissension had arisen within the 
church, which the present difficulties only helped to aggra- 
vate. Not long after Mr. Swan's settlement the quiet 
enjoyment of uniformity in faith, method, and practice, 
was invaded by an unusual religious excitement. The 
eloquence of Whitefield, who came into New Hampshire 
in 1744, affected the entire population of the State. So 
fascinated were the people that they forsook their ordinary 
occupations, laid aside their worldly schemes, and fol- 
lowed the wonderful preacher from place to place. The 



Growth of Sectarianism. 21 

professors at Cambridge, and many of the clergy, opposed 
and vilified him; but he bound the hearts of the people to 
himself with the most enthusiastic devotion. 

Religion and theology, which for years had lost some- 
thing of the old Puritan vividness in the minds of the 
colonists, now burned with increased ardor. They be- 
came the absorbing subjects of discussion. The churches 
were " infected with lay exhorters, who had undertaken 
to play the bishop in another man's diocese," as the regular 
clergy complained. New revelations and interpretations of 
Scripture were promulgated. The disputed points were 
discussed and decided in town-meetings. 

One of the ablest advocates of the " New-Light " 
doctrines was Daniel Emerson, a famous skater and wres- 
tler, who had recently become the first pastor in the new 
town of Hollis. Under the powerful preaching of White- 
field he forsook a wild life at Cambridge College and .fol- 
lowed the great preacher from place to place. He received 
into his own strong, ardent and impulsive nature the in- 
fluence of the mighty man of God. The disciple, in his 
turn, became a flaming New Light. He was a kind of 
Congregational Bishop in his region. No man in southern 
New Hampshire was so extensively known, and his in- 
fluence was powerful on the surrounding ministers and 
churches. Mr. Swan's society did not escape the contagion, 
and a division followed. The pastor himself was a very 
prudent, thrifty man, but could not be called eminent for 
spirituality. His lack of sympathy with the zealous min- 
ister at Hollis, and with the New-Light doctrines in general, 
estranged from him many of his pious hearers who had em- 
braced the new faith. The differences in the church, the 
township controversies, and the religious excitement of 
the times, all combined to render Mr. Swan's position a 
difficult one. With his temperament and training, he was 



22 Church Dissensions. 

hardly equal to the exigencies of the hour; and failing to 
unite the opposing parties, he was dismissed. 

Soon after his dismission he returned to Lancaster, 
Mass., where he had taught school previous to his settle- 
ment in the ministry. He resumed his former occupation, 
and became an eminent teacher. Here he remained until 
1760; and then removed to Walpole, N. H., where he 
died. 

The dismission of Mr. Swan did not allay the troubles, 
nor did the settlement of Mr. Bird (1747), who was an 
openly pronounced New Light. The choice was far from 
being satisfactory, and the division of sentiment was nearly 
equal. The New-Light party, headed by Jonathan Love- 
well, built the new meeting-house according to the plan 
before described, and the church government was that of a 
one-man power. 

Col. Blanchard, who led the opposition, refused to 
pay a minister whose doctrines openly subverted the faith 
of the Pilgrims. All who were dissatisfied with Mr. Bird 
were excused from the " minister- tax." The history of 
church dissensions now repeated itself and found a new 
illustration. Col. Blanchard and other orthodox members 
claimed to be the original church; and, separating them- 
selves from the New Lights, resumed worship in the old 
meeting-house near the State line, — where they were 
joined by their former friends in Tyngsborough and Dun- 
stable, Mass. 

This new " Lovewell's Fight " was not confined to 
the battle-ground in the church. Here again history re- 
peats itself. The contest concentrated itself into an in- 
tensely bitter party spirit, and pervaded the whole body 
politic. For a century after, the Blanchard party and the 
Lovewell party were pitted against each other in all matters 
of church and state. The petition of the Pine Hill resi- 



Dunstable, under a N. H. Charter. 23 

dents to be set off to Hollis clearly reveals one phase of the 
hostility. " Each party," says the petition, " courted 
Pine Hill's assistance, promising to vote them off to Hollis 
as soon as the matter was settled. And so Pine Hill was 
fed with sugar plums for a number of years, till at length 
Dunstable cast off the mask and now appears in true colors. 
She wishes to keep us as a whip for one party to drive out 
every minister that comes there." 

Soon after the secession it occurred to Blanchard that 
the town-meeting which called Mr. Bird was an illegal 
one; for, as yet, the Legislature of New Hampshire had 
not recognized Dunstable, N. H., as an incorporated town. 
Massachusetts had no jurisdiction over a town in New 
Hampshire ; therefore the proceedings of the town-meeting 
held under a Massachusetts charter were null and void. 
The Legislature of New Hampshire sustained Blanchard; 
the transactions of that town-meeting were declared con- 
trary to law. This decision led to the legal organization 
of the township under its New Hampshire charter, and a 
new town-meeting was called. The Blanchard star was 
now in the ascendancy. Mr. Bird did not enjoy his new 
religion in Dunstable, and migrated to a more congenial 
clime in New Haven, Conn. 

When we look on these estranged party leaders, once 
such strong friends, and united by the common bond of 
perils past and jointly encountered and overcome, we sym- 
pathize with Coleridge's lines: 

" Alas! they had been friends in youth; 
But whispering tongues can poison truth; 
Each spake words of high disdain 

And insult to his heart's best brother; 
They parted — ne'er to meet again! 

But never either found another 
To free the hollow heart from paining; 



24 A New Meeting-House. 

They stood aloof, the scars remaining, 

Like cliffs which had been rent asunder; 
A dreary sea now flows between; 

But neither heat, nor frost, nor thunder, 
Shall wholly do away, I ween, 
The marks of that which once hath been." 

At this distance from the strife, it would relieve us 
to know if Joseph Blanchard and Jonathan Lovewell ever 
shook hands and mutually bade by-gones be by-gones, and 
agreed to " let the dead past bury its dead." We may at 
least hope that long ago they saw eye to eye on the peace- 
ful plains of Heaven. That there was a little softening 
of the bitter feeling appears in the fact that the New- Light 
leader was appointed by the town to hire preaching. The 
new meeting-house formerly occupied by Mr. Bird, and 
then the only one in New Hampshire Dunstable, again 
sheltered both parties. 

Six years afterwards, in 1753, the town voted to build 
a new meeting-house at the crotch of the roads near Jona- 
than Lovewell's. Lovewell's house was two miles below 
the present City Hall, and was known to many of us as 
Gibson's tavern. It is now owned by Alfred Godfrey, Esq. 

The new meeting-house was partly composed of the 
materials of the old meeting-house near the state line, built 
during Mr. Swan's pastorate. The " Bird " meeting- 
house was bought by Jonathan Lovewell and converted 
into a dwelling house, whose ancient associations of Chris- 
tian warfare are fitly perpetuated by its being the residence 
of our gallant Col. Bowers. 

A second long period of twenty pastorless years now 
succeed the building of the new church. Preaching was not 
suspended ; but the spirit of contention prevailed through- 
out, and there was only the form of godliness without its 
power. Earnest efforts were made to settle a minister. 



Prolonged Dissensions. 25 

Calls were made and accepted, but a nettling persistent 
minority would enter a protest and annul the entire pro- 
ceedings. Benjamin Adams, Elias Smith, Josiah Cotton, 
Jonathan Livermore, Thomas Fessenden — all, sons of 
Harvard, and able ministers of the gospel — were succes- 
sively called, and either declined settling in such a turbu- 
lent place, or were prevented from settlement by some 
member of the minority who had lived in Londonderry. 
The form of a protest entered at the call of Elias Smith has 
been preserved : — 

" We the subscribers * * * protest against the choice 
of Mr. Elias Smith for our minister * * * and for these 
reasons: first, because we are not of the persuasion he 
preaches and endeavors to maintain; we are Presbyterians 
and do adhere to the Westminster Confession of Faith; 
* * * we are members of the Presbyterian church in 
Londonderry — some, eighteen years — some, fifteen years, 
— and have partaken of Baptism and of the Lord's Supper 
as frequently as we could * * * and we cannot in con- 
science join in calling or paying Mr. Smith. Therefore 
we plead the liberty of conscience that we may hear and 
pay where we can have the benefit." 

John Alld. 
Jeremiah Colburn. 

Another party was more pointed in its dissent. " Mr. 
Smith's preaching favors the Arminian scheme, which 
tends to pervert the truths of the gospel and darken the 
counsels of God." In Mr. Cotton's case the call was 
accepted, the day of ordination appointed, the churches 
invited to assist in the services, — when another Presby- 
terian protest was entered, and the church again learned 
that there was " many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip." 



26 End of Dunstable Theocracy. 

Party feeling ran so high on this occasion that an Ecclesias- 
tical Council was called to settle the difficulty. Mutual 
explanations followed, and a compromise was effected. 

It would have given joy to us to-day if we could have 
known that the two party leaders had then buried the 
hatchet; but Joseph Blanchard died in 1758, before the 
reconciliation was effected. 

To prevent theological differences in the future, a 
town meeting was called in 1 761, to see what doctrines 
the town would support; and the " New England Confession 
of Faith " was adopted. 

A brighter day was soon to dawn upon the church, 
although the cloud rolled but slowly and heavily away. 
The silver lining appeared in Mr. Joseph Kidder, a late 
graduate of Yale College. He was offered a settlement of 
$450 and an annual salary of $180. This excellent minister 
was ordained March 18, 1767. His long pastorate of over 
fifty-one years was not without trials. Party spirit, al- 
though slumbering, was occasionally roused into energetic 
life, both on old points of dispute, and on new ones oc- 
casioned by the exigencies of the times. The difficulties 
culminated in 1796. The case was referred to a committee 
mutually chosen by the parties, which decided to end 
the civil connection between Mr. Kidder and the town. 
He was consequently the last minister paid and settled by 
the town ; and here ended the Dunstable theocracy. — 
(See explanation on p. viii of Introduction.) 

Scarcely had the internal dissensions settled down to 
comparative quiet under the wise counsels of Mr. Kidder, 
when the town was excited by premonitions of trouble 
with the Mother-Country. The spirit of opposition, 
aroused by the Stamp Act and the tea-tax, together with 
the evident purpose of the British government to place 
the churches of America under the control of the Church 



Outbreak of Revolutionary War. 27 

of England, culminated at last at Lexington and Bunker 
Hill. Town meetings were held in the church. The green 
in front of the meeting-house near Gibson's tavern was 
covered with excited Federalists discussing the events of 
the day and preparing for the contest. The people called 
upon the minister to search the Scriptures and declare to 
them the counsels of God ; and we may be sure that Joseph 
Kidder responded with alacrity. Dr. Bouton of Concord 
relates an incident illustrating the patriotic spirit of the 
New Hampshire clergy during the Revolution. " One 
Sunday Col. Gordon Hutchins rode into Concord from 
Exeter, and, dismounting at the door of the church, entered 
in the midst of the service. The quick eye of Timothy 
Walker, the venerable pastor, caught sight of him; and, 
suddenly pausing, he called out, " Col. Hutchins, are you 
the bearer of any message? " " Yes! Gen. Burgoyne is on 
his march to Albany: Gen. Stark has offered to take 
command of New Hampshire men ; and if all turn out, we 
can cut off his march." The old pastor instantly rejoined: 
u Those of you who are willing to go had better go at once." 
All the men in the meeting-house rose and went out. 
Many enlisted. The whole night was spent in preparation, 
and a company was ready to march the next day. 

Beyond doubt, Capt. William Walker and the Dun- 
stable company — which comprised one-half the able- 
bodied men of the town — accoutred for battle, marched to 
church before going to Charlestown, and listened to a 
patriotic farewell sermon from Joseph Kidder, and were 
fortified in spirit by his strong and fervent prayers for the 
success and prosperity of the American armies. The psalm 
would be one of David's war songs: the text, brave Joab's 
words, " Be of good courage, play the men for our people, 
and for the cities of our God ; and the Lord do that which 
seemeth him good ": the sermon, adapted to the occasion 



28 Religion and Patriotism. 

and full of the spirit of the day. The pastor's stammering 
tongue would be loosened in the freedom and energy of 
his utterance as he touched their finer feelings or roused 
them to the dreadful onset. Men, women and children 
would be melted at his pathos, and animated by his martial 
spirit as 

11 He spoke of wrongs too long endured, 
Of sacred rights to be secured; 
Then from his patriot tongue of flame 
The startling words for Freedom came; 
The stirring sentences he spake, 
Compelled the heart to glow or quake; 
And, rising on his theme's broad wing, 

And grasping in his nervous hand 

The imaginary battle brand, 
In face of death he dared to fling 
Defiance to a tyrant king." 



Fired with the spirit of their patriot parson, Capt. 
William Walker and the Dunstable company could go to 
battle like Cromwell and his Round-heads, " trusting in 
God and keeping their powder dry." No! it is not in the 
statistics of the armies nor to the thrilling narratives of 
sieges and battles that we are to look for the true history 
of the Revolution. It is rather in the inspiration breathed 
into the souls of the people by the patriot ministers and 
the patriot orators of the Revolution. Ministers not only 
dared to preach politics in those troublous times; they 
were officially asked to do it. The church was the most 
appropriate place for the exposition of the religious prin- 
ciples involved in the struggle. If any timid loyalist ob- 
jected that " God's house was the house of peace," the 
patriot parson would reply: 



The Hollis Association. 29 

" Nay, not so! 
When God is with our righteous cause, 
His holiest places then are ours; 
His temples are our forts and towers 

That frown upon the tyrant foe. 
In this, the dawn of freedom's day, 
There is a time to fight and pray." 

The universal testimony of the students of the Revo- 
lutionary history, the general voice of the Fathers of the 
Republic and the spirit of our history unite in declaring 
that the superior numbers and skill of the British troops 
were compelled to yield to the material weakness of the 
American forces, through the moral and religious energy 
that inspired our Fathers. They were armed in the holy- 
cause of Civil and Religious Liberty; and " to the pulpit, 
the Puritan pulpit, we owe the moral force which won our 
Independence." 

It fills us with patriotic pride to know that our minister 
was one of the sources of moral inspiration at that day. 

The records of the Hollis Association, traced by Mr. 
Kidder's own hand, show how vital was the interest among 
the associated clergymen in this region. The war was the 
all-absorbing topic. Ordinary discussions on disputed 
points were laid aside for graver matters of immediate 
public duty and interest. One of their number, Samuel 
Webster of Temple, was already in the army as Chaplain; 
and afterwards laid his life down in the service. It re- 
quires no stirring of the imagination to see these patriotic 
and godly ministers engaged in earnest counsel, and unit- 
ing in fervent prayer on bended knees, supplicating the 
Divine blessing and guidance. 

After the church became an independent organization 
it still continued the services of the faithful pastor for 
more than thirty years longer, until his death in 181 8. 



30 A Genial Country-Parson. 

Mr. Kidder was a fine representative of a gentleman 
of the old school. Many of our citizens remember the 
slight figure of the aged minister, always clothed in taste, 
and scrupulously neat and clean. His dress and manners 
were the visible expression of his mental habits. Precise, 
orderly, and punctilious, his generous nature expressed 
itself in manners courteously polite. His pre-eminently 
scriptural sermons were prepared with great care, but 
suffered in their delivery by an impediment in his speech. 
His house was half way between Amherst and Chelmsford, 
and was ever open with free-hearted hospitality to his 
friends in those places as they journeyed to and fro. It 
is not difficult to imagine this genial country-parson of the 
olden time, seated with his friends before the large open 
fireplace — filled with a sparkle-shooting hemlock fire roar- 
ing up the deep-throated chimney, — and detailing from 
his retentive memory interesting anecdotes, both grave and 
gay, lively and severe, in utterance which receives its 
choicest flavor from its hesitating accents. The picture 
instinctively recalls the genial gentleness of Charles Lamb 
in the midst of his chosen companions. 

For many years he was the exact and punctual scribe 
of the Hollis Association of ministers. Whenever he was 
called upon for a sermon, the stuttering secretary recorded 
the fact in this modest way, " The scribe attempted to 
preach." Throughout his long life he was a constant 
and most intelligent student of the Bible. His marvelous 
memory was an encyclopedia of scriptural facts, genealo- 
gies, and anecdote. In his last days — when his memory 
was failing — though forgetting everything else, he could 
quote the Scriptures with all the appropriateness and ac- 
curacy of his early manhood. He was keenly alive to the 
importance of the routine of religious observances as an aid 
to the growth and vigor of spiritual life. He deeply realized 



Rev. Mr. Sperry, the Church Historian. 31 

the importance of what are called the " little things " of 
life. A few small defects of character, suffered to go un- 
corrected, he expected to see developed, in time, into down- 
right sins of omission. So careful was he to observe the 
golden rule and the rights of property, that he would not 
allow himself to take a berry from a field or an apple 
from the wayside, without obtaining permission from the 
proprietor. The strength of his religious habits appeared 
in bold relief during the closing days of life. His memory 
failed to retain the names and faces of his children and 
neighbors; but his Bible, his prayers, and his Saviour were 
never forgotten. Prayer was his last audible utterance. 
He was asking Heaven's blessing on his family, his col- 
league and his church, when the fatal stroke of palsy stilled 
his feeble stammering tongue forever to mortal ears. 

The lessons of his declining years are full of meaning. 
He, being dead, yet speaketh to the generations that follow 
him of the importance of the early and habitual study of 
God's word, of the value of the habits of religion to the 
culture of the inner life, and of the perennial blessedness of 
the memory of the just. 

Mr. Kidder's infirmities were such as necessitated 
his dismissal from the pastorate in 1796, and Mr. Ebenezer 
Sperry was ordained assistant pastor, Nov. 3, 1813. After 
a ministry of between five and six years Mr. Sperry was 
dismissed to assume the chaplaincy of the South Boston 
House of Correction. No record of his character or of 
his ministry is left to us. But his memory is to be held 
in grateful remembrance for the faithful care with which 
he collected and preserved the church records and for 
the interesting reminiscences of his senior pastor, Joseph 
Kidder. 

The meeting-house, in which Mr. Kidder preached, 
is a good specimen of a house of worship in New England 



32 A Typical House of Worship. 

a hundred years ago. Like many other churches it was a 
modified form of construction of the Old South Church in 
Boston, which has stood for the model of so many meeting- 
houses in New England. 

" The house was very plain, about eighty by sixty 
feet in size, with a steep roof, without bell, belfry or cupola, 
and resembled in size and shape, except for the doors and 
windows, a fine large barn." It had large galleries. The 
two high pews (one at each extreme corner, to the right 
and left of the pulpit, in the galleries) were so much raised 
as to require stairs, to ascend and descend, and so high 
that a tall man could scarcely stand in the pew erect with- 
out touching his head to the wall above him. 

The pulpit was built on the west side of the house 
and facing the large double front door, and had a huge 
sounding board hanging over it. Along the front of the 
pulpit, and between it and the communion table, was the 
deacons' seat, on which sat two worthies whose saintly 
dignity shone with added lustre and solemnity on the days 
of holy communion. The seat was a plain board hung 
with hinges on the railing of the seat, and when raised 
was supported by two curiously twisted iron braces. 

A large, but single, door opened at each end of the 
house; and stairs led to the male side of the gallery at the 
extreme right corner of the minister, and corresponding 
stairs to the female side on the left. The broad uncarpeted 
aisle leading from the broad front door to the pulpit, in 
which stood our grandfathers and grandmothers when 
they entered into covenant with God and the church, was 
a solemn place. It received many tears of penitence — 
both from those joining the Church, and from those who 
had fallen into gross sins, and that stood there — while 
their public confessions were being read. 

There was a narrow aisle leading quite round the 



Dignifying the Meeting-House. 33 

house, leaving one tier of pews joining the wall, and having 
inside two squares containing so-called " square pews." 
The latter had straight backs, with tops of open work and 
banisters — the latter, inserted some eight inches apart. 
The pew seats extended around on every side; except 
where there was a door, which was narrow and fastened 
with a wooden button. The occupants faced inwards; 
and some, therefore, would sit with their backs to the 
speaker. Hence the habit prevailed of standing a part of 
the time during the sermon, which at this primitive period 
was from one to two hours long. 

The hour glass which stood on the pulpit was turned 
at the reading of the text; and the audience felt slighted, 
if the sermon ended before the sands were all dropped. 
How opposite this from the latter-day saints who complain 
of a sermon three-quarters of an hour long, and recommend 
to their pastor's consideration Whitefield's saying, " No 
souls saved after the first thirty minutes! " 

The meeting-house was warmed chiefly by the sun; 
for a chimney, stove, or furnace was unknown in those 
days. A poor substitute was the foot-stove, which the 
matron of each family was careful in the coldest weather 
to have well filled with live coals from the home hearth- 
stone. The supply of coals was replenished, when needful, 
from the hospitable homes in the vicinity of the meeting- 
house. The long horse-sheds stood near by, — and also 
a horse-block, beside which many a two-horse wagon 
was driven, and hastily received its living freight of sturdy 
sons and laughing daughters while the horses were rear- 
ing and plunging till they were off in wind and in dust 
or sleet. 

A committee was appointed to dignify the meeting- 
house — that is, to designate and arrange the seats according 
to their relation of dignity. The men and women were 



34 Sacred Music in Nashua. 

seated separately on opposite sides of the house, and every- 
one according to his office or his age or his rank in society. 
The children and young people, at the first seating, were 
left to find their own places, away from their parents, in 
that part of the house which was not occupied with seats 
prepared at the town's expense. The tything-man was 
appointed to watch them, and many an urchin was sud- 
denly called to order by the tything-man's rap on the top 
of the seat. 

The meeting-house and its surroundings was the 
" Holy Hill of Zion " to the Parish. " Hither the tribes 
went up " by different roads or lanes which centered there. 

The parish was large, and every Sabbath day the 
people flocked in from the adjacent country and filled the 
house almost to overflowing. Going to meeting was looked 
forward to with great delight. The services of the day 
were not only enjoyed, but the social life of the town 
was concentrated at the meeting-house at intermission. 
" Every pleasant Sunday morning, hundreds came flocking 
into town — the elders on horseback with their wives on 
pillions behind, the hardy sons on half-broken colts, the 
daughters on fillies, now and then a household in a heavy 
farm wagon loaded with half a score — till the numerous 
families filled up the pews below and crowded the galleries 
above." 

The history of sacred music in Nashua would afford 
an interesting field of inquiry. For many years one man 
had been employed to " set the Psalms," as the phrase 
went, for pitching the tune: sometimes two would be em- 
ployed. The task of " lining off " the Psalm by the 
clergyman soon fell to the duty of some brother competent 
to give the office a becoming dignity. In the course of 
time, when the singing school was established, and learning 
to sing was like learning the Rule of Three, all those who 



Instrumental Music. 35 

had " learned the rule of singing " were allowed to sit 
near together and had liberty to conduct that part of 
worship. The old inhabitants remember the long line of 
singers ranged around the front gallery who were led by 
the chorister opposite the pulpit. The sensitive temper 
which is thought to be the necessary state of feeling in a 
good singer has often produced unhappy results among 
choirs, and has frequently led to temporary troubles. The 
new way of singing Psalms, advocated by the ministers in 
the vicinity of Boston as early as 1726, was the occasion 
for no little controversy. Churches were divided for a 
time by the vexed question of the adoption of the new way 
of singing. 

Occasionally a leader would be found who could play 
the violin, and he was appointed to stand where he could 
best guide the singers. The violin, at first a wicked inno- 
vation, was followed by the violoncello and the double bass 
viol. Gradually a flute was added, then a clarionet, and 
even a French horn when any one was found skillful enough 
to play one; and the old Jewish band of cornet and flute, 
sackbut and psalter, dulcimer and harp, was reinstated in 
modern church choirs. Although they have been super- 
seded by an instrument more appropriate to the solemnity 
of worship, the brass band revival in very recent days, in 
at least one of our churches, shows that the spirit of the 
former music is still abroad. The instrumental music gave 
a new impulse to choir singing and singing schools; and 
the choir was eventually composed of all the singers that 
could be found in the congregation. With this union of 
social and instrumental music, the singing of the former 
days was fully as hearty and enjoyable as the trained 
quartettes of the present day. In due time the organ, 
once considered an attachment to Popery, " a chest full of 
whistles " or the Beast of the Apocalypse, began to breathe 



36 Noted Singers, — Respect for the Minister. 

out its churchly tones; musical taste was cultivated, ears 
became more sensitive, and one by one large choirs were 
dismembered and dispersed until the present mode through- 
out our churches is either the quartette and double quar- 
tette choirs, or else the more democratic mode of Congre- 
gational singing. 

I would not willingly wound the feelings of any of our 
excellent singers by instituting comparisons ; but, as citizens 
and lovers of the divine art of song, they will cheerfully 
allow me to speak of the days gone by when the celebrated 
musical artists whose voices have entranced thousands, 
whose fame is not limited to any region of the country, and 
whose gifts and graces will give the final charm to this 
festival season — they will permit me, I say — to recall 
the time when Hattie Bond, Ursula Greenwood, and Maria 
Eayrs, known to the public as Mrs. Long, Mrs. H. M. Smith, 
and Mrs. Kimball, were sweet singers in the Sabbath choirs 
of our Israel. Their fame is our pride and our boast. With 
the church choirs of other days we associate the names of 
Lyman Heath, Robert Moore, Abner Dodge, Edward 
Hosmer, Albin Beard, and others who have helped to give 
local renown at least to Nashua as the home of good singing. 

The clergyman was treated with universal respect, 
particularly by the young. It was a wonderful sight to the 
rising generation in those days to see parson Kidder on 
his daily horseback ride. As he passed the schoolhouse 
the children ranged themselves in line, with uncovered 
heads, and made their manners to the good man, who, in 
turn, lifted his cocked hat and, with a pleasant smile, bade 
them a " cheerful good morning." When minister or 
stranger entered the schoolroom or the family apartment, 
the children arose at once to their feet. It has been re- 
marked that " the family, the school, the church, society 
itself, were nurseries of decorum a hundred years ago." We 



A True Union of Church and State. 37 

cannot revive these decorous customs if we would. We 
would not if we could, but we cannot but greet them as they 
pass in review before our memory. 

" Hail ancient manners! sure defence, 
When they survive, of wholesome laws." 

The meeting-house was not limited to religious services 
exclusively. The Puritan's idea of the State, unfolding 
within the church, so modified his reverence for " holy 
places " that he had no superstitious regard for the church 
structure itself. On a Sabbath day or Fast-day, his head 
was uncovered within the Temple; but he was careful also 
not to keep his hat on at any time in the sanctuary. Our 
fathers held that religion should be applied to all depart- 
ments of life, and therefore the meeting-house was used 
for public assemblies of importance to the town. Town 
meetings were held in both the old churches for many 
years. The right of suffrage was regarded as a solemn 
thing, and whatever concerned the public weal was to be 
considered in a religious spirit. All town meetings were 
accordingly opened by prayer, and on very important 
occasions the minister preached an appropriate sermon. 

A town meeting at the time of the Revolution is thus 
described by John Trumbull: 

11 High o'er the front on pulpit stairs, 
Mid den of thieves in house of prayers, 
Stood forth the constable; and bore 
His staff like Mercury's wand of yore. 
Above and near the hermetic staff, 
The moderator's upper half. 
In grandeur o'er the cushion bowed, 
Like Sol half seen behind a cloud. 
Beneath stood voters, of all colors — 
Whigs, Tories, Orators and brawlers." 



38 The Old South Meeting-House. 

The old house stood for about sixty years; and one 
morning in 1812 the people found it in the condition of the 
11 One-hoss shay," " all in a heap " by the wayside. It 
had been pulled down in the night by a party who took 
this way to precipitate the construction of a new one. 

The Old South Mee ting-House, with its bell and 
tower and fresh white paint, was a great improvement on the 
one we have been describing. It was located about a half 
mile north of the former one; and was built by Willard 
Marshall and Joseph Lund on the same principle that 
Jonathan Lovewell built the meeting-house of 1749 — by 
hiring out the " pew-ground " to the people. The dedi- 
cation sermon was preached, Nov. 4, 18 12, by the Rev. 
Humphrey Moore of Milford; and is in possession of the 
Nashua Historical Society. 

We have now arrived in the course of our history at 
the generation of the living. Memory takes the place of 
record and tradition. The third and last stage of our 
progress is reached, at which the broader signification of 
the Church appears in different church organizations with 
diverse and opposite faith and forms from the original 
ecclesiastical system we have been considering. It is 
with unmixed pleasure that we pass from the long and 
dreary period of Disunion to the period of Union in the 
midst of variety. 

With the growth of the town, events multiply and 
incidents crowd upon us too fast to be adequately noticed 
on an occasion like this, which is more appropriately given 
to the chronicles of remoter times. There are later events, 
equally, if not more, worthy of commemoration. But of 
historic writing and the limits of human endurance on 
these uncomfortable seats, we may say that " Art is long, 
and time is fleeting " ; and I will only crave your patience 
while I briefly sketch the different religious societies that 




Old Olive Street Church 



Olive Street Church. 39 

have branched out from the trunk of our ecclesiastical 
tree. We are warranted in doing this; for the history 
of Dunstable does not really close until 1837, when the 
name of the town was changed to the more romantic one 
of Nashua. 

In the interim between the dismission of Mr. Sperry 
and the occupancy of the Olive St. Church, the religious 
condition of the town was gradually changed. People 
of all shades of belief worshipped together at the Old 
South. But many, who were influenced by the new re- 
ligious opinions of the times, separated from the old church 
in a peaceful and noiseless manner and formed other 
societies. The Old South pulpit was occupied by various 
ministers. 

Warren Burton, a well-known minister in his day, 
preached often on the precepts of the Unitarian faith. 
Rev. Andrew E. Thayer, a resident of Nashua, and from 
whom " Thayer's Court " took its name, is remembered 
with gratitude by many who listened to his spiritual teach- 
ings. The Nashua Manufacturing Company built the 
Olive Street Church for the accommodation of the opera- 
tives connected with the Corporation ; and during its erec- 
tion, many, who afterward formed the Unitarian and 
Universalis t societies, worshipped in a room in No. 1 
of the Nashua Company's Mills. When the Church was 
completed in 1825, it was first occupied by the liberal 
Christian society. Population was moving northward, 
and the majority lived north of the harbor between Salmon 
Brook and the Nashua River. The Old South became in- 
convenient for a greater part of the inhabitants; and in 
1826 the old church of Dunstable bought the Olive St. 
house, which has, from that day to this, been the regular 
house of worship for one of the Congregational Societies. 

To resume the story of the original stock. — After the 



4-0 Division of Olive St. Congregation. 

death of Mr. Kidder, and following the dismissal of Mr. 
Sperry in 1818, another period of destitution succeeded, 
that continued seven years. The church had been in ex- 
istence up to the date 1820 — one hundred and forty years, 
— and during this time it had been without a regular pastor 
fifty-eight years, more than one-third of its life. The Rev. 
Handel G. Nott assumed the pastoral charge, Nov. 9, 
1826. He commenced his ministry with the addition of 
fifty new members by letter and on profession of faith. 

The year 1830 was a memorable one of growth to 
the church. Seventy- two persons united with it who had 
never before declared their personal allegiance to Christ. 
Mr. Nott's ministry was comparatively a brief one. Eight 
years covers the period; but up to this time it was the 
richest season of spiritual prosperity during the entire 
history of the church. Mr. Nott was a most indefatigable 
fisher of the souls of men out of the deep, and three hundred 
and fifty-five were added to the church in those few years. 
During the latter part of his ministry here Mr. Nott gave 
to the doctrine of infant baptism renewed and thoughtful 
attention; and in 1834 he announced to his people that he 
no longer regarded infant baptism as a divinely appointed 
ordinance; and, although he considered sprinkling as a 
valid mode of baptism and still adhered to open com- 
munion, he could not conscientiously administer the ordi- 
nance of baptism to the infant children of the church. 
Great surprise was expressed at this announcement; for 
he had publicly baptized his own child the previous Sabbath. 
So much dissatisfaction was expressed that an ecclesiastical 
council was called for advice. The unanimity of the 
council in recommending Mr. Nott's dismission led to his 
formal resignation in October of the same year. 

After his dismission the society, as distinct from the 
church, invited Mr. Nott to supply the pulpit. The 



" Old Chocolate" Built by First Church. 41 

church, by a majority of one or two, decided to withdraw 
and worship in Greeley's Hall. The church officers were 
included among them, and a second ecclesiastical council 
declared that they constituted the original Congregational 
church of old Dunstable. 

On New Year's day, 1835, tne Rev. Jonathan McGee 
was installed as pastor of the First Church. During the 
year, the church edifice familiarly known as the " Old 
Chocolate," was erected at an expense of $10,000. For 
seven years and a half, Mr. McGee ministered successfully 
to this people. He was dismissed at his own request June 8, 
1842. 

Eighty-mve persons began the Christian life under Mr. 
McGee's preaching, and one hundred and eighty-six were 
added to the church by letter, making in all two hundred 
and seventy-one. The last year of his ministry was signally 
blessed by a revival which originated in the faithful efforts 
of a Sabbath-school teacher with his own class. The work 
of grace spread from class to class until the whole school 
was baptized by the Holy Spirit. The interest extended 
to members of the society not connected with the school, 
and many of them united with the church. 

We may ask in the tender language of Scripture, 
" and the old man of whom we speak, is he yet alive? " 
Your own hearts answer; and we count it among the pleas- 
ures of this- day that he is yet among us, the delight of his 
friends and an honor to his profession. We venture to 
say that among the memories of his long and useful life 
none stand out before him with a brighter radiance than 
those associated with that blessed season of 1842. 

The ninth pastor of the church was the Rev. Matthew 
Hale Smith, who was ordained Oct. 17, 1842. By his 
energy and financial skill, a church debt of $2,000 was 
liquidated; and, as if Providence designed to show the 



\2 A Series of Pastors. 

intimate relation between sacrifices made for the material 
welfare of the church and its spiritual prosperity, another 
work of the Spirit began, which resulted in the addition of 
upwards of eighty to the church. On account of ill-health, 
Mr. Smith asked for a dismission; which was granted 
Aug. 20, 1845, after a ministry of nearly three years. For 
many years Mr. Smith's residence has been in the City of 
New York, where he is engaged in earnest, Christian labor; 
but he comes to Nashua almost daily in the character of 
" Burleigh," the entertaining New York correspondent of 
the Boston Journal. 

The Rev. Samuel Lamson succeeded him in April, 
1846. A dismission was most reluctantly voted Mr. 
Lamson at the close of his second year — he having resigned 
on account of feeble health, April 7, 1848. 

He was followed in 1849 by the Rev. Daniel March, 
one of the ablest clergymen in the United States, not 
only a brilliant writer and effective speaker, but a most 
indefatigable and successful Christian worker. An im- 
portant church in Brooklyn, N. Y., called him from Nashua 
in 1855. He has since been settled in Woburn, Mass., and 
in Philadelphia, where he now resides as the honored pastor 
of a Presbyterian church. The influence of his accomplished 
mind is still felt in Nashua and throughout the country, in 
his widely read works, " Night Scenes in the Bible," " Our 
Father's House," and " Home Life in the Bible." 

The society then called a professor from Amherst 
College, the Rev. Geo. B. Jewett, who was both ordained 
and installed May 24, 1855. His pastorate commenced 
with every appearance of a bright and happy future for 
the church and for himself, but was terminated in less than 
a year by a most distressing accident at the railroad cross- 
ing near the Concord depot, by which his son, an only 
child, was instantly killed. In consequence of injuries 




Old Chocolate Church 



Growing Membership of First Church. 43 

sustained on that fatal 15th of April, Mrs. Jewett lost a 
hand and Mr. Jewett was crippled for life. With great 
sorrow the church dismissed the pastor to whom they had 
become most tenderly attached, on the 4th of August, 
1856. Although the state of his health has not allowed 
him to take another pastoral charge, he still preaches 
occasionally; and from his home in Salem, Mass., he si- 
lently influences the literature of the country and of the 
churches, through his accurate and thorough scholarship. 

The Rev. Chas. J. Hill, now of Ansonia, Conn., suc- 
ceeded Mr. Jewett. His ministry commenced in 1857 and 
terminated in 1864. Another revival blessed the church 
at the commencement of his labors, and large accessions 
were made to its membership. Many young people were 
attracted to Mr. Hill's services, through his sympathy 
with the youthful. 

Ill health compelled Mr. Hill to resign, and he was 
succeeded by Rev. Elias C. Hooker. His installation took 
place in September, 1865. He was a most zealous worker 
and an excellent preacher; but his feeble constitution would 
not admit of a long pastorate, and he was reluctantly dis- 
missed in August, 1868. 

The present incumbent of the pulpit, Rev. Frederick 
Alvord, was settled July 6, 1869. On the 15th of April, 
1870, the " Old Chocolate " church was destroyed by fire. 
With praiseworthy energy the society erected on the same 
site their present elegant brick church, with its beautiful, 
convenient and unique interior arrangements, — and dedi- 
cated it, about thirteen months afterward, on the 18th 
of May, 1871. 

The records of church membership up to 1790 are not 
to be found. Since that date 784 names appear on the 
church books; and the present membership is between 
450 and 500. Among the names are found several who 



44 Fraternal Pastoral Relations. 

are in the ministry, or in preparation for it. Rev. Mr. Dolt 
and Rev. Milton Bailey are from this church. Rev. John 
Abbott French is settled over the Presbyterian church in 
Morris town, N. J. Another is a professor in Andover 
Theological Seminary.* 

Here ends the long and eventful history of the First 
Church of Dunstable and of Nashua. It is entwined with 
much that is noblest and best in the feelings of Christian 
citizens, and also with much that springs from the weakness 
of imperfect human nature. In spite of its lamentable 
short-comings and the undermining influences from within 
and without that have been brought to bear upon it, its 
inherent vitality has enabled it to endure the shock of 
disruption ; and the Mother Church — to-day the largest 
society but one in the city, and among the foremost in the 
state — stands as the principal object in the background 
of our historical picture. 

In recurring to the division of the old church of Dun- 
stable, which took place during Mr. Nott's ministry, it is 
most gratifying to be assured by Dr. Austin Richards, the 
first pastor of the Olive St. Church, that both pastors of 
the two Congregational churches labored side by side in 
perfect harmony, and that the partial alienation and dis- 
cord that had so unhappily rent the body of the church 
gradually gave place to a spirit of mutual forbearance and 
fraternal affection. 

The change in Mr. Nott's doctrinal views was not the 
only reason that constrained many of the original church 
to remain where they were. A large number, though by 
no means all, of the friends of Mr. Nott sympathized with 
his views. All were strongly attached to their pastor; and 
none, without reluctance, could forsake the house of wor- 

* This statement refers to Professor Churchill, who was received 
into the First Congregational Church by letter in i860. 



Rev. Dr. Richards of Olive St. Church. 45 

ship, with its added conveniences and improvements which 
they had helped to acquire by their earnest efforts and 
pecuniary sacrifices. So about half the members of the 
church and a large majority of the society decided to stay. 
Accordingly they formed a new organization, of which 41 — 
who were members of the old church — were legally dis- 
missed to constitute the new. It is worthy of notice that 
Col. Thomas G. Banks, the efficient chief marshal of this 
Bi-Centennial celebration, is the only man living whose 
name is on the first records and membership of the society, 
forty-seven years ago. Mr. Nott preached for them a 
year, when he was dismissed in order that he might join 
the Baptist communion. 

The church installed the Rev. Austin Richards, of 
Francestown, as their pastor, April 6, 1836, who continued 
his exceedingly useful ministry through a period of thirty 
years. At the close of the first year of his pastorate the 
church was blessed with a revival which resulted in 65 more 
members. In 1842 another great work of the Spirit was 
witnessed, and 115 new Christian hearts swelled the num- 
bers of the church. Many of our most influential citizens 
date their spiritual life from that revival season. Ten 
years afterward there was another extensive and remark- 
able effusion of the Holy Spirit, and 101 united with the 
church — 80 at one communion. Many were from the 
Sabbath-school, and one of the devoted teachers who had 
been engaged in the Sunday-school work for thirty-five 
years declared it was during that winter that a great dis- 
covery was made. He had just found out that the true 
object of Sunday-school teaching was not simply Bib- 
lical instruction but the Salvation of the Soul. When this 
was realized whole classes gave their hearts' allegiance to 
the Redeemer. The history of Mr. Richards' ministry, 
with its three extensive revivals and constancy of religious 



46 Noble Line of Olive St. Pastors. 

life in the church, closed Nov. 16, 1866, when he was dis- 
missed at his own request. He was soon recalled to his 
former pastorate at Frances town. Failing health com- 
pelled him to relinquish all pastoral care; and he now 
resides in quiet retirement in Boston, surrounded with 

11 That which should accompany old age, 
As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends." 

The Rev. Gustavus D. Pike was settled in 1862 as 
Dr. Richards' colleague. Resigning his position in 1865 
he soon after accepted a secretaryship of the American 
Missionary Society. It is largely owing to his judicious 
management that Fiske University is so successfully 
accomplishing its objects. 

The third pastor in the church was Rev. Hiram Mead, 
who was called from one in South Hadley, Mass., and in- 
stalled Dec. 17, 1867. The church building was remodelled, 
and the parsonage and vestry built during his charge. 
His rare abilities were sought for by the Oberlin Theological 
Seminary; and in September, 1869, he resigned his pastorate 
to assume the Professorship of Sacred Rhetoric in that 
institution. 

Dr. Mead's successor, the Rev. James S. Black — still 
holding the pastorate — was ordained and installed March 
31, 1870, and is the bishop of 300 souls. 

Olive St. Church takes a pardonable pride in the sons 
she has placed in the ministry, all of whom are honoring 
their mother church and the church of Christ in their 
respective fields of Christian effort. 

Rev. Dr. Spalding of Newburyport, Mass., the Rev. 
Edward Clark — pastor of an up-town church in New York 
City, — and Rev. James Powell, late of Newburyport, 
Mass., are enrolled among the members of the Olive St. 
Church. 



Pearl St. Congregational Church. 47 

One fact full of meaning manifests itself in the history 
of the division of the First Church and Olive St. Church — 
a fact that stands out in bold contrast to the earlier dis- 
ruptions of the old church of Dunstable. The causes of 
division originated in the pulpit and not in the pews. There 
was no taint of the selfishness of party spirit leading to 
the separation. An honest change in the opinions of a 
beloved pastor, involving great self-sacrifice on his part, 
resulted in an expression of loyalty to a good man on the 
one hand, and in an adherence to the great principle of lib- 
erty of conscience on the other. That such liberty is not in- 
compatible with the work of the Holy Spirit is shown in the 
blessed seasons during the days of McGee and Richards 
immediately following the division; while spiritual torpor, 
almost amounting to deadness, marked the history of the 
dissensions of earlier days. 

The Pearl St. Church was a child of Olive St. Church. 
The faithful preaching of Dr. Richards had so filled the 
Olive St. house that it became expedient to set off a colony 
of fifty-five members, to form another society. 

The sympathy and co-operation of both the Congre- 
gational churches was cordially promised the new enter- 
prise; and, on the 3d of September, 1846, the Pearl St. 
church was organized. 

Until their new house of worship was completed, the 
society worshipped in the Town Hall and held their prayer 
meetings in the Olive St. vestry. 

The Rev. Leonard Swain was their first pastor. He 
was ordained and installed June 24, 1847; and after a most 
pleasant and faithful term of service, he was dismissed 
in 1852 to take the pastorate of a new society in Providence, 
R. I. Here he remained until his death, which occurred, 
July 14, 1869. 

In relating the history of the Pearl St. Church, I ven- 



48 Rev. Leonard Swain, D.D. 

ture to advert to the name of its first pastor with more 
than a single word ; for he is pre-eminently the ablest man 
who has yet appeared among the ministers of Nashua. 
For a period of eight years, from 1847 to 1855, and more 
particularly from 1849 to 1852, the Congregational pulpit 
of Nashua was honored and adorned by two of the foremost 
ministers in New England, Daniel March and Leonard 
Swain. Of the one, I have already spoken. 

There are many of us to whom Dr. Swain, with his 
tall, spare, erect form, high, serene forehead, clear marble- 
like complexion, thin sensitive lips, deep sincere blue eyes, 
and solemn, impressive manners, seemed more like a being 
from another sphere — a direct link with the unseen world 
— than did any other man we ever beheld. 

He seemed to be breathing the refined atmosphere 

" Where the immortal shapes 
Of bright aerial spirits live inspher'd 
In regions mild, of calm and serene air, 
Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot 
Which men call earth." 

No other preacher within our memory succeeded as 
he did in uttering the soundest evangelical thought with 
the stately manner of ancient orators. The leading quali- 
ties of his interior nature were his emotional and imagi- 
native powers. To a stranger, simply looking upon his 
thin white face, and lips hard as marble in their repose, it 
seemed as if the fires of a passional nature could never 
dwell within so much ice. But those who were acquainted 
with his inner life as well as any one could know a man of 
so much natural reserve testify to his deep and tender 
feeling. It was his rich emotional nature, in combination 
with his sincere moral earnestness and brilliant imagina- 
tion, that controlled, infused, and informed his powerful 



Genius of Leonard Swain. 49 

speech. His deep-toned, silvery, resonant, majestic voice 
gave most solemnly penetrating emphasis, to his elaborate, 
though simple, language; and thrilled the soul with its 
physical properties merely. As it became the facile in- 
strument of his strong feeling when profoundly stirred, 
it seemed like a Hebrew prophet's, echoing the voice of 
God. But when he took the hand of suffering, or spoke 
of the loving compassion of the Saviour, or responded to 
the changing moods of devotion, its trembling accents 
seemed to be full of tears. 

Perhaps his emotional power, enhanced by a vivid 
imagination, was never more strikingly displayed than on 
the day of his graduation from the Theological Seminary 
at Andover in 1846. So diffident was he of his ability to 
do justice to himself and credit to the seminary that, up 
to the Saturday evening previous to the anniversary day, 
he had not written a word, and had pleaded urgently to be 
excused. His professor of rhetoric, unwilling that the 
day should be robbed of its brightest luminary, advised 
him to deliver the last half of a sermon that he had just 
criticised for him. The self-distrustful student reluctantly 
acted upon the suggestion; and one of the most eminent 
men of the day, himself a pulpit orator of foremost rank 
and a highly competent critic, affirms that the effect 
produced was simply wonderful. The audience was 
bathed in tears. Dr. Woods* was so agitated that he 
visibly trembled from uncontrollable feeling. Scholarly, 
unemotional men, who sat on the platform from which he 
spoke, sobbed aloud; the very stage shook beneath them 
from the force of their emotion. That anniversary address 
stands out from among all others of its class during the 

* Dr. Leonard Woods — formerly professor of Christian Theology, 
and then professor emeritus at Andover Seminary — undoubtedly is 
the person here meant. 



50 Spirituality of Dr. Swain. 

history of that venerable seminary as a conspicuously 
solitary exception. 

The character of his preaching was direct, simple, 
and thoroughly evangelical. It seemed to his people at 
times that he dwelt too long in the bracing atmosphere 
of Sinai, and not long enough in the milder air of Calvary. 
The two master ideas which possessed his mind were God's 
glory and man's salvation. One of his parishioners in 
Providence who knew him intimately says " that he was 
not so anxious about the spiritual condition of individual 
Christians as about the state of the impenitent as indi- 
viduals. For his people he was apparently less solicitous 
about growth in grace than about conversion. Sanctifica- 
tion was important but justification was vital." He loved 
souls too well, it would seem, to speak words of a false 
peace; he waited until they had declared a complete 
allegiance to the Saviour. 

He had a clear vision of unseen things. Spiritual 
verities were to him realities. He had the spiritual mind 
that discerned spiritual things. With pertinent emphasis 
a friend says that, in his long life of suffering, he " endured 
as seeing Him who is invisible." Spirituality was the pre- 
dominant feature of his Christian character. 

Nature had not formed Dr. Swain for many friend- 
ships; but those who were admitted to the sanctuary of 
his affections never knew a friend more tender, true, and 
steadfast. Another friend speaks of " his genial sayings, 
tinted with the delicate hues of fancy, edged with the keen- 
est wit, or bubbling over with genuine humor." Dr. 
Swain had in him the original stuff for a martyr. He 
never hesitated an instant between policy and principle. 
He gravitated towards principle as surely and as naturally 
as the needle to the pole. And yet he was always cour- 
teous, candid, and just to an opponent. He took positive 



Dr. Swain's Literary Attainments. 51 

ground on all important social and political matters; and 
the poor and the outcast found in him a friend and a 
defender. He pleaded for the rights of black children in 
the common schools, and declared that until they enjoyed 
their rights he would take his own children away from the 
schools and place them under private tuition. His voice 
rang like a trumpet during the Great Rebellion, and he 
called upon men to " fight as Christians and because they 
were Christians." 

He frequently disappointed those who went to hear 
a " great sermon " from him; and he always appeared to 
better advantage in the conference room and the familiar 
lecture. His literary standard was so high, his critical 
sense so keen, his culture so varied, and his nature so modest, 
that he undervalued his sermons, and never allowed but 
one or two to be printed, and solemnly enjoined that none 
should be published after his death. This morbid sensi- 
tiveness was his weakness and our calamity. The printed 
sermon of striking eloquence and beauty on " God's owner- 
ship of the sea " suggests to the world what it has lost; 
but this masterpiece will take its place among American 
classics. He read Dante in the original Italian, and knew 
French and German. Two rich specimens of German 
hymnology were translated by him for the Sabbath Hymn 
and Tune Book. He had the mental constitution of a 
poet, and had written a manuscript volume of poems which 
was committed to the flames. I have read a poetical 
letter, written when he was in his twenty-third year, to 
his brother George, that, notwithstanding its haste and 
familiarity, is full of airy fancies, exquisite feeling and 
delicate turns of thought and expression. No one but a 
" born poet " could have written it. He is also the author 
of one of the choicest hymns in the Sabbath Hymn and 
Tune Book. 



52 Swain's Successors and Their Good Work. 

Let his friends speak for him again: — Many of his 
former people who hear this brief memoir to-day will appre- 
ciate what is said of the " regal mastery of his speech as 
associated with his prayers, so unlike the prayers of other 
men. The heart that could hear his prayers, unmoved, 
must be as the nether millstone. He had a remarkable 
faculty of summing up the items of thought and petition, 
presenting them in prayer clearly, pertinently, fervently 
and devoutly. In this particular, he far excelled any other 
man I ever knew. The thought, the tone, the expression, 
the whole outgoing of the man was prayerful. He was 
emphatically a leader in prayer. You could follow him 
so easily in his spiritual thought and gracious speech 
that it seemed to be as much your prayer as his." But 
though we have no sermons to perpetuate his memory, 
his work and his life shall be his best memorials. This 
church, of which he was the first pastor, and which he built 
up and made strong with five years of his noble life, is here 
his fitting and enduring monument. 

The second pastor was Rev. Dr. Ezra E. Adams, of 
Philadelphia. This genial man, able preacher, and faith- 
ful pastor, began his work here Aug. 31, 1853, and ended 
it July 13, 1857. 

His four years' ministry was succeeded by the still 
briefer pastorate of two years of the Rev. E. W. Greeley, 
at present settled over the church in Haverhill, N. H. He 
was installed over this church Feb. 24, 1858, and was 
dismissed, at his own request, May 17, i860. 

Rev. B. F. Parsons was with the Pearl St. Church 
nearly six years, from Nov. 7, 1861, to June 18, 1867. His 
residence is now in Derry, N. H. 

The fifth pastor, Rev. Wm. L. Gaylord, was called 
from the church in Fitzwilliam, and was installed Dec. 31, 
1867. He closed his ministry three years later, — Oct. 27, 



A Wonder-Working Providence. 53 

1870, — and went to Meriden, Conn, (where he now re- 
sides), to become the successor of Rev. W. H. H. Murray, 
who had gone to the Park St. Church in Boston. 

The Rev. Charles Wetherby, the present pastor, was 
settled, Dec. 7, 1871. 

Five hundred and forty-three names have been placed 
upon the membership records of the Pearl St. Church since 
its organization twenty-seven years ago. Among them are 
the names of six men who have become able ministers of 
the gospel. The Rev. S. M. Freeland, at one time a popu- 
lar principal of the Nashua High School, is in Detroit, 
Mich. Rev. Richard C. Stanley, a principal of our High 
School, is professor of natural science in Bates College, 
Lewiston, Me. Rev. C. A. Leach is pastor of the Congre- 
gational church in Keene, N. H. Rev. E. L. Whitcomb is 
an Episcopal clergyman in North Haven, Conn. Rev. 
Henry M. Tenney is settled in Winona, Minn. Rev. 
Josiah E. Kittredge is the pastor of the Congregational 
church, Glastonbury, Conn. 

The present membership of this church is 203, and 
the Sabbath-school of 250 members is in a very flourishing 
condition. 

The history of the Olive Street and Pearl Street 
Societies affords another illustration of the unfolding of 
God's wonder-working Providence. Who amongst us 
to-day, of those living at the time of the division in the 
church forty-seven years ago, could have predicted that 
he would see what he now sees? Out of a division so 
full of regretful causes, have sprung two large and influen- 
tial societies which are among the leading moral and 
spiritual forces in the city. And the old First Church 
itself from which they derived their original life is stronger 
to-day than either. 

This was not designed nor anticipated at the time of 



54 Rise of Various Sects. 

the disruption; but there was an Eye that did see it, and 
the Mighty Head of the church so directed the dissension 
that He finally made the wrath of man to praise him. 

Passing now from the natural branches in their or- 
ganic development, we come to the branches that have 
been grafted into our ecclesiastical tree. We return to 
the time of Kidder and Sperry in 1818. For nearly a 
century and a half the old ideas and institutions of the 
primitive faith of New England had prevailed in Dun- 
stable. As I have before remarked, the Congregational 
church, in a certain sense, was the established church of 
New England; indeed it may rightly be called so to-day. 
For a hundred and fifty years no one in Dunstable ever 
thought of being anything else than a Congregationalist. 
He might be Orthodox or New Light, but he was a Congre- 
gationalist still. Whitefield was a Methodist, it is true; 
but he was a Calvinistic Methodist, and did not concern 
himself with the forms of church government. He simply 
sought to infuse the spirit of the living Christ into the 
existing forms. There had been petty dissensions in the 
church itself, but no schismatics had gone out from the 
old church to form other churches maintaining peculiar 
and contrary views. 

As time passed on, and the population increased, and 
new attractions drew strangers into town, it was to be 
expected that adherents to other forms of faith and prac- 
tice would be found scattered here and there in the grow- 
ing village. 

The doctrine of universal salvation, so radically 
opposed to one of the leading doctrines of the Evangelical 
faith, was introduced into the country during the eighteenth 
century by the famous John Murray. His liberal teach- 
ings had been promulgated in New Hampshire in a few 
localities as early as 178 1. In that year a Universalist 



The Universalists. 55 

church was formed in Portsmouth. The bold and able 
advocacy of the fascinating doctrine resulted in the or- 
ganization of the first Universalist society in Nashua, 
Jan. 27, 18 1 8, which became the first to encroach upon the 
domain of the original ecclesiastics of the village. Twenty- 
eight members constituted the society. Only two of them 
are now living, Gen. Israel Hunt and Hon. John M. Hunt. 
Their father was the leading mover in the new enterprise. 
The Universalists in both the Dunstables united in the 
services which were held in either place as convenience 
dictated. The leading Universalist divines — Hosea Bal- 
lou, Thomas Whittemore, Paul Dean, and Otis Skinner — 
preached for them in schoolhouses and barns. Gen. 
Hunt more than once spent some of his youthful strength 
in tearing off the boards from some schoolhouse which 
had been nailed up against the " heretics." The following 
year it seemed best to concentrate the society in Dunstable, 
N. H., and a new constitution was adopted Feb. 20, 1819, 
Israel Hunt, Jr., being chosen clerk. The new society 
started with forty members, and with the Rev. Charles 
Hudson as pastor. Mr. Hudson afterwards became a 
member of Congress, and is now living in Lexington, Mass. 
The society was merged in course of time into the congre- 
gation worshipping in the Olive St. Church prior to its 
occupancy by the orthodox. 

It was not until 1833 that the society, as a distinct 
body, was reorganized. The Old South Church, whose 
walls had echoed to the warning notes of Calvinism, then 
became the shelter of the Universalists. The first pastor, 
Rev. William M. Fernald, proclaimed from the pulpit of 
Kidder and Sperry the liberal doctrines of John Murray 
and Hosea Ballou. For two years the society worshipped 
in the Old South, under the pastoral care of Rev. A. P. 
Cleverly, until the new church was dedicated in October 



56 Universalist Pastors and Their Work. 

of 1839, when Rev. L. C. Browne became pastor. Mr. 
Browne had been settled six years, when his health failed 
him, and he was dismissed. Rev. Dr. Wm. H. Ryder, 
now of Chicago, was his successor. In two years, Mr. 
Browne was re-installed; remained until 1853. It was 
in this year that he published his reply to Matthew Hale 
Smith, a former pastor of the First Congregational Church, 
who had written a book assailing the doctrines of the 
Universalists. 

Mr. Browne's successor was Rev. Dr. Charles H. Fay, 
now of Washington, D. C. For two years Mr. Fay guided 
his people with great wisdom and ability. His public 
spirit won for him the esteem of his fellow citizens, and both 
church and community parted with Mr. Fay with genuine 
regret. 

Rev. O. D. Miller, the next pastor, remained four years 
as minister, but continued to reside in the city after his 
resignation. 

In i860, the eighth pastor, Rev. J. O. Skinner, began 
his ministry of two years' continuance. 

Thomas L. Gorman, the present acting pastor of the 
Unitarian society, succeeded Mr. Skinner, and preached 
here two years. 

The Rev. Dr. G. T. Flanders, late of Chicago, now of 
Lowell, was pastor for four years, and was followed by 
the highly esteemed Rev. S. H. McCollister. The church 
and the community lost a most excellent man and Buchtel 
College gained an efficient President, when Mr. McCollister 
left the church in 1872. The present pastor, Rev. H. A. 
Philbrook, has been with the society since the beginning of 
the year 1885. 

The pride and glory of the church is its flourishing 
Sunday-school, established in 1836 by C. P. Danforth, Esq., 
who continued to act as superintendent some ten or twelve 



First Baptist Society of Dunstable. 57 

years. His successors were Geo. E. Burke, E. P. Hill and 
Hon. Wm. T. Parker — who served in that capacity some 
eight or ten years — Hon. F. S. Rogers, J. M. Fletcher, 
C. W. Murch, Jonathan Parkhurst, Francis Hill, W. H. 
Chase, Edward Parker, and C. M. Langley. This Sunday- 
school claims the honor of inaugurating the Sunday-school 
" concert " in Nashua. 

The Rev. Mr. Whitney, of the Universalist church 
of Beverly, a Nashua boy, was once a member of this 
school. Another member of the school is preparing for 
the ministry of the Universalist church, at Buchtel Col- 
lege, under the guidance of his former pastor, Rev. S. H. 
McCollister. 

In 18 1 8 the Baptists formed a society. They had 
heretofore worshipped with the Old South Society; but 
they sought for the maintenance of a work more strictly 
calvinistic in doctrine than they found amongst so much 
New-Light leaven. They felt the need of a more rigorous 
discipline and a greater purity in the internal relations of 
the church. 

The method adopted to carry out their convictions 
was the formation of a church which should pay conscien- 
tious attention to the ritual suggested by the literal lan- 
guage of scripture, especially in the rite of baptism. A 
separate religious community was accordingly formed, 
known as the First Baptist Society of Dunstable. 

In early colonial days corporal punishment was in- 
flicted on any person who should hold religious meetings 
otherwise than as the laws allowed, or who should speak 
against pedo-baptist principles. These laws were prose- 
cuted with no little severity; in a word, the public senti- 
ment of the ruling Theocracy was opposed to all intruding 
sects. 

In spite of opposition and prosecution, Baptist prin- 



58 First Baptist Society in Nashua. 

ciples gradually spread over the province of New Hamp- 
shire. The town of Newton was the first to foster a Baptist 
church; this was in 1755. From 1770 Baptist church ex- 
tension rapidly gained ground , and it is somewhat sur- 
prising that no church of that denomination was formed 
in Dunstable at an earlier date. 

Itinerant Baptist preachers occasionally spoke in the 
old church in the south part of the town. One day, while 
a travelling minister was holding service in the church, 
a white dove entered a window and alighting upon his 
shoulder, turned around, and faced the audience. In a 
few moments the bird flew away. The preacher and his 
hearers were greatly impressed by the beautiful emblem 
of the descent of the Holy Spirit ; and the preacher, moved 
by the suggestiveness of the scene, exclaimed with prophetic 
utterance, " The Lord hath this day kindled a fire in this 
place that will never be extinguished." 

Although the society was formed in 1818, the church 
was not organized until 1822. Of the original twenty- 
three who signed the constitution of the society in 18 18 
but one is now living. John Butterfield yet lives to rejoice 
in the rich prosperity of the church of his early love and 
prayers, and in his connection with a denomination that 
is second to but one in point of numbers in the United 
States. 

The beginnings of the church were feeble. For some 
time, it included but six men and nine women. The 
old school-house which stood between Concord and Man- 
chester streets, on the south side of Rural Street,* was the 

* Rural Street was afterwards named Mt. Pleasant Street — it 
being in a line running eastward from that part of Mt. Pleasant Street 
which extends from Abbott Street to Manchester Street. The old 
school-house lot was sold to Gen. George Stark; and the school-house 
was moved to a lot directly opposite on the north side of Rural (now 
Mt. Pleasant) Street, where it serves as a double dwelling-house. 



First Meeting-House Built by the Baptists. 59 

cradle of the infant church. Mr. Butterfield was one of 
the six men who worshipped there; but he has now the 
honor of being one of 1,671 members of this church who 
have sat with him at communion since 1822. 

The Old South Meeting-House soon became their 
house of worship, the Congregationalist Society having 
removed to the Olive St. Church. Rev. Bartlett Pease 
occupied the pulpit from May, 1828, until July, 1829. 
On the 25th of February, 1830, their first pastor, Rev. 
Caleb Shute, was ordained, but was dismissed Dec. 18 
of the same year. For three years they were without a 
settled pastor, but were supplied by nine different preach- 
ers, holding their meetings, now in the school-house, and 
now in the Old South, as convenience dictated. A success- 
ful call to Rev. Dura D. Pratt secured to them the services 
of a minister who devoted himself to their interests with 
unsparing fidelity and eminent ability until his death. He 
was ordained Jan. 23, 1833, and the new meeting-house 
was dedicated the same day. His greatly lamented decease 
occurred Nov. 13, 1855, after a pastorate of twenty- two 
years. This was Mr. Pratt's only pastoral charge. His 
friends sententiously say, "We ordained him; we buried 
him." 

The first meeting-house built by the Baptist society 
was on the site of the one they now occupy. It was de- 
stroyed by fire in 1848. The present commodious brick 
edifice was dedicated as a New Year's gift to the head of 
the church, Jan. 1, 1850. 

Mr. Pratt left to his successor, Rev. W. H. Eaton, a 
vigorous and active church of over 500 members, and a 
Sabbath-school of 350 pupils. Mr. Eaton was installed 
Jan. 26, 1856, and for fourteen years he performed his 
duties with marked ability; nor was his interest confined 
to his own church. Firm and unyielding in his personal 



60 A Free-Will Baptist Society. 

convictions, he never withheld sympathy or co-operation 
from any plan for the public good which seemed to him 
to be for the general welfare. Mr. Eaton's executive 
ability and financial wisdom was sought for by the Baptist 
Educational Institution at New London; and he resigned 
his charge to assist the struggling academy. Only six 
months elapsed before the society was again under his 
pastoral care.* His present residence is in Keene. 

Rev. H. H. Rhees was installed July 15, 1870; and 
was dismissed to the Baptist Church at Southbridge, Mass., 
Dec. 31, 1872. 

On the first of May of the present year (1885) Rev. 
G. W. Nicholson, was installed. He has the care of 517 
souls, the largest Protestant parish in the city. 

A second Baptist church was formed in 1836 by the 
Rev. N. W. Smith. A meeting-house was erected for it on 
Chestnut Street, which is now occupied by the Chestnut 
Street Methodist Society. The new church consisted of 
20 or 30 members who peaceably separated from the old, 
for more convenient worship. Rev. Mr. Pratt preached 
the dedicatory sermon from the very appropriate words, 
" I am not worthy of the host of all the mercies and of all 
the truth which thou hast showed thy servant, for with 
my staff I passed over this Jordan and now I become two 
bands." The financial embarrassments of 1837 to 1838 
so affected the new enterprise, that the society returned to 
the old church, and abandoned their late organization. 

The year 1830 brought with it some irritation to these 
staunch defenders of John Calvin's theology and high 
Baptist principles. Free salvation and open communion 
were proclaimed by Elder Silas Curtis. This earnest 
Free-Will Baptist preacher remained until 1839. The 
11 Free-Willers " had brief pastorates. Four pastors — 
* In 1867 he received the degree of D.D. from Brown University. 




Old First Baptist Church, Main Street, Chief Entrance ox Fraxklix Street. 



First Unitarian Society in Dunstable. 61 

Curtis, Preble, Phelon, and Stearns — were distributed 
over a space of five years. The little society of 40 
worshipped in the building at the west corner of Orange 
and Canal streets, now (1885) occupied by Spalding & 
Stearns, as a storehouse for grain. 

Another form of Baptist heresy appeared in 1840. 
The Christians — Unitarian in doctrine, but Baptists in 
ritual — formed a society under the charge of Rev. Mr. 
Robinson. There was never life enough to secure an or- 
ganization, and the enterprise died a natural death. 

In the early part of this century, one of the most im- 
portant controversies that ever engaged the interest of 
thinking men shook the religious world in New England 
from centre to circumference. It was a contest for the 
intellectual freedom of the church. The successive modi- 
fications of opinion, which had been going on during the 
latter part of the last century, finally developed into Uni- 
tarianism, or Liberal Christianity. The abolition of all 
engagements which may fetter the free teaching of the 
clergy was the leading idea of the movement. 

So close was the proximity of Dunstable to Massa- 
chusetts — and especially to Boston, the principal field of 
combat — that it would have been strange if the religious 
atmosphere of Dunstable were not affected by the smoke 
of the battle. A small number of the most intelligent and 
thoughtful citizens deeply sympathized with the new doc- 
trines. On the nth of September, 1826, a church was 
duly formed under the name of the First Unitarian Con- 
gregational Society in Dunstable. 

The Nashua Manufacturing Company had built a 
church on Olive Street, and the first services of the new 
society were held in this building. They occupied the 
Olive St. Church until their new church was finished, 
Jan. 27, 1827. Suggestive of the brighter day dawning on 



62 Able Unitarian Ministers in Nashua. 

the religious world, the corner stone of " Greenwood 
Church " was laid, " upon a pleasant spring morning," 
at sunrise. The dedication of the church was on the day 
of the ordination of its first pastor, Rev. Nathaniel Gage. 
Mr. Gage was an earnest preacher, and his old friends affirm 
that the vigorous and healthy tone of his sermons was the 
natural expression of a healthy nature that could do valiant 
service with the scythe and plow. He remained with the 
society seven years, and was dismissed, at his own request, 
in 1834. 

Mr. Emmons, whose name indicated anything but a 
liberal theology, was ordained and installed the following 
year. Delicate health compelled him to resign in 1837. 
He was followed by the most eminent of the clergymen 
who have been connected with this society, the Rev. Dr. 
Samuel Osgood, then a young man just out of his divinity 
studies. The youthful pastor was ordained and installed 
May 16, 1839. He made the pulpit a living force in the 
community. He was a " broad churchman " from the 
outset. Holding to no exclusive service, he worked for 
society at large. His ideas and methods of church life 
were heartily entered into by his people, and his pastorate 
was rich in fruitful results. The beautiful custom of 
recognizing Christmas, as a Christian festival, in the 
decoration of the church with evergreens, originated in 
Nashua with Mr. Osgood. He was sought by the Uni- 
tarian Society in Providence, R. I., which received him 
from this church in 1841. The church of the Messiah in 
New York called him from Providence in 1849. After a 
ministry of about twenty years in New York his theological 
opinions, which had gradually been changing, led him to 
embrace the faith and practice of the Episcopal Church; 
and for nearly three years he has been an Episcopal rector 
in Brooklyn, N. Y. Dr. Osgood has always been active 



Able Unitarian Ministers in Nashua. 63 

in literary and educational interests, and he has published 
works of considerable excellence. " Studies in Christian 
Biography," " The Hearth-Stone," " God with Men," 
" Student Life," and " Milestones on Our Life's Journey " 
are among the books he has written. He has also made 
admirable translations from the German. The pages of 
the North American Review, the Christian Examiner, and 
Bibliotheca Sacra have often been enriched and adorned 
by his fertile and elegant pen. 

For two years the church was without a pastor. Then 
the Rev. A. C. L. Arnold was settled about ten months. 
Next, the church welcomed the Rev. Samuel G. Bulfinch 
— an Israelite indeed in whom there was no guile, — who 
ministered to it most acceptably for seven years, beginning 
Sept. 17, 1845. The memory of his gentle ways and spir- 
itual teachings is still precious to many whose eyes he opened 
to discern things unseen and eternal. 

As an author he took no mean rank. His " Evidences 
of Christianity " is one of the most satisfactory books of 
its class; and the novel entitled " Honor," although not 
widely read, is a beautiful setting of many choice gems of 
sentiment and expression. He was always, a welcome con- 
tributor to religious periodicals. Mr. Bulfinch died in 1872. 

Rev. Martin W. Willis was settled here in January, 
1854, after an interval of two years. His useful pastorate 
of seven years closed in the autumn of 1861. 

The next pastor was Rev. Samuel B. Stewart. He 
remained for nearly two years, and resigned his ministry 
on the first of January, 1865. 

A year from the next March, Minot G. Gage, a son 
of the first pastor of the church, was ordained and settled 
over the society. He was dismissed on Dec. 18, 1869, to 
take charge of the Unitarian church in Gloucester. 

The Rev. Clarence Fowler succeeded him in December, 



64 Early Unitarian Sabbath- School. 

1870. A brief ministry of a year and a half completed his 
work in Nashua. 

The Rev. Thomas L. Gorman, formerly pastor of the 
Universalist Church in Nashua, has been the acting pastor 
since Jan. 1, 1873. 

The Sabbath-school has been one of the leading and 
most pleasant features of this society from its formation. 
Its library contains over 800 volumes. The late lamented 
Dea. John A. Baldwin was its superintendent for thirty- 
seven years. He was succeeded by Mr. James L. Pierce, 
who was superintendent for twelve years. On the first 
of June, last, he resigned the office to the present super- 
intendent, Dr. E. F. McQuesten. 

There are scores of men and women, scattered over 
the Union, who will ever recall with tender and grateful 
memories the hours spent in this Sabbath-school, receiving 
religious instruction and hallowing impressions from self- 
sacrificing teachers, many of whom have passed the solemn 
veil and penetrated the Great Secret. 

Following the history of our churches in chronological 
order, we come next to that thriving branch which is a 
part of the largest denomination in the country. The rise 
and progress of Methodism in America has been nothing less 
than marvelous. Previous to the visit of John Wesley to 
America in 1735, there was not a Methodist on the American 
continent. By this time the other leading evangelical 
denominations had established a firm footing in the New 
World. But notwithstanding their advantage of a cen- 
tury's start and a century's growth Methodism has out- 
stripped them all, and multiplied its numbers so rapidly 
that they are like the sands on the seashore. To-day they 
are not only the leading denomination, but they compose 
nearly one-half the entire number of the Protestant com- 
municants in the United States. 



Rise of Methodism in Dunstable- Nashua. 65 

Methodism did not strike its roots in Dunstable 
until thirty-five years after the first Methodist society was 
formed in New Hampshire at Chesterfield. A handful 
of Methodists had come into Dunstable about 1831, and 
were employed in a woolen mill at Indian Head. The 
faithful few determined to found a Methodist society, and 
began to hold weekly meetings. The other denominations 
looked a little askance on the ardent religionists, whom 
they were inclined to regard as crazy fanatics, if we may 
credit a chronicler of the times. The Old South Church 
again threw open its doors to " heresy," and Rev. Samuel 
Norris of New Salem preached the first Methodist sermon 
from its pulpit. In evening of that day, a preaching serv- 
ice was appointed in the school-house on the Nashua 
corporation. A certain person whom they were not look- 
ing for soon made his appearance; for Satan came also. 
One of the eyewitnesses of the scene says that two beings 
in human form crawled through a window, blew out the 
lights, and in derision cried out " Glory to God." But 
the brethren meekly re-lighted the lamps, and Brother 
Norris proceeded with his discourse to the end. The 
brethren classed themselves together that night and pledged 
each other " to fight for Immanuel." 

The following year they applied for admission to the 
New Hampshire Conference and were included in what 
was called the Amoskeag Circuit, and from 1832 Dunstable 
became a " Station." The Rev's James G. Smith and Wm. 
G. Lock were appointed to the new station. The little 
church of forty members held its meetings in the Indian 
Head schoolhouse. Through the liberality of one of the 
brethren, B. L. Jones, who gave them a lot of land on Lowell 
Street, they were enabled to build a church. The preju- 
dice which was first excited against the Methodists must 
have disappeared; for they gratefully recognized the 



66 Wesleyan Methodists. 

generosity of friends in the other societies who aided their 
enterprise. The church was dedicated Nov. 12, 1833, 
Rev. J. G. Dow preaching the sermon. The church mem- 
bers numbered at that time over a hundred. 

The next year, 1834, was one of trial. Four different 
preachers were sent them during the year, and each 
left because of ill health. About thirty members with- 
drew, and the rest grew disheartened. But on the ap- 
pointment of Rev. Wm. D. Cass, in 1835, new life was 
infused into them. The membership was raised from 70 
to 123. Liberality and punctuality characterized the 
financial affairs of the society. Peace and prosperity- 
marked the history of the next ten years under the spiritual 
guidance of Rev's Messrs. Hatch, Jared Perkins, Kelley, 
Mowry and L. D. Barrows. During Mr. Hatch's charge 
of affairs the house was enlarged and the parsonage 
built. 

After the separation of Nashville from Nashua, in 
1844, a new church was organized out of the Lowell Street 
society under the name of the First Methodist Episcopal 
Church of Nashua. The original society was thereby 
greatly depleted. Their troubles came not singly. A 
division of opinion as to slavery led a part of the church 
to declare themselves Wesleyans, and to secede under 
the leadership of B. L. Jones.* A Wesleyan Methodist 
Society was formed, and worshipped in the house opposite 
the freight depot, formerly occupied by the Free- Will Bap- 
tists, and aggravatingly near the Lowell St. Church. 
Another ill result was the loss of the Lowell St. meeting- 
house through the legal complications of the secession. 
The wisdom and patience of Rev. James Pike, their pastor, 
and of the leading brethren of the church, brought the 
society into clear waters, and the house was regained. 

* Prof. Churchill's father was conspicuous in this movement. 




Old Wesleyan Methodist Church. 



Methodist Episcopal Societies. 67 

The Wesleyan enterprise was not a prosperous under- 
taking, and two years of independency proved the folly 
of its continuing longer. The seceders returned to their 
first allegiance and were welcomed back to their old Episco- 
pal home. 

In 1847, while Henry Drew was pastor, the Temperance 
Reformation was the great social agitation of the day. Mr. 
Drew and his society, with characteristic fervor, threw 
themselves into the new movement, and pastor and people 
were foremost in their zeal and efficiency among the friends 
of the Reform. 

With varying fortunes the church went on under the 
pastoral leadership of the Rev. Messrs. Rogers, Mason, 
Furber, Scott, Leavitt, Hill, Harding, Howard, and Clark; 
until 1867, during the ministry of Rev. E. A. Smith, a 
new enterprise was established by due form of law known 
as the Trustees of the Lowell Street Methodist Episcopal 
Church. A public notice was printed, producing not a 
little astonishment among the citizens, and causing many 
significant shakes of wise financial heads. A stock com- 
pany was formed, and in good time the beautiful and costly 
edifice of the Methodist Society on Main Street was finished 
and dedicated. 

The first pastor of the society in the new church was 
the Rev. Geo. Bowler. He was untiring and energetic 
in his zeal for the welfare of the church : and his death on 
March 25, 1869, was a calamity to the society and to the 
city. His successors have been the Rev. Angelo Canol 
and the present pastor, the Rev. V. A. Cooper, who is in 
the third year of his ministry. H. A. Matteson, A. C. 
Manson, S. P. Heath (deceased), and Geo. F. Eaton, have 
been residents of Nashua who have entered the Methodist 
ministry while connected with this church. 

The Chestnut St. Methodist Society, peacefully sepa- 



68 Episcopal Churches in Nashua. 

rating itself from the Lowell St. Church in 1844, purchased 
the building formerly occupied by the Second Baptist 
Church. Rev. Dr. Dempster was its stated supply for some 
months after the formation of the church. Many of the 
ablest men in the New Hampshire Conference have occu- 
pied the pulpit according to the Methodist polity of settling 
preachers. The names of McLaughlin, Lewis Howard, 
Jared Perkins (who died during his pastorate in this church), 
C. S. Dearborn, Henry Hartwell, Sullivan Holman, L. J. 
Hall, W. H. Jones, R. S. Stubbs, E. R. Wilkins, D. C. 
Babcock, T. Carter, are all held in affectionate remembrance 
by this society. Under their faithful ministrations Chest- 
nut St. Church has done a noble work for the Divine Master 
in this city, and its prosperity is continuing under the 
present pastor, Rev. H. L. Kelsey. Henry B. Clapp has 
entered the Methodist ministry from this church. Two of 
the Methodist clergy of Nashua, Jared Perkins and James 
Pike, have been honored in the political world by their 
election to the national councils in Washington; and have 
rendered conscientious and faithful service. In the Great 
Rebellion, the military spirit and skill of a fighting Metho- 
dist parson, Rev. Col. James Pike, placed the eagle straps 
on his shoulders. 

It was not until 1845 that a sufficient number of ad- 
herents to Episcopacy were found in Nashua to warrant 
a request to the bishop of New Hampshire for permission 
to hold service here. As a result, the Rev. Milton Ward 
was sent to them, and divine services were held in the court 
room under the Town Hall. After a few months, regular 
ministrations were suspended, but occasional services were 
conducted by different clergymen from out of town. Regu- 
lar services afterwards were resumed in 1857, under the 
rectorship of Rev. E. P. Wright, from the diocese of New 
Jersey. Mr. Wright remained hardly a year. 









I 




Old Episcopal Church. 



Episcopal Rectors in Nashua. 69 

Rev. N. W. Munroe next officiated until Rev. Wm. 
Stevens Perry took the regular charge of the parish. Much 
to the regret of the church and of a large circle of citizens 
whom Mr. Perry had attached to himself by his liberal 
culture and social activity, he resigned his charge in 1861, 
after a ministry of about two years. 

The Rev. D. F. Banks became his successor. At the 
end of two years he resigned. During his rectorship a 
pleasant and commodious church was erected at the 
junction of Temple and Pearl streets. It was consecrated 
July 15, 1862, by Rt. Rev. Bishop Chase, of the diocese 
of New Hampshire. The rectors who have officiated in 
this church since Mr. Banks' resignation are Leonidas B. 
Baldwin (one year), Geo. Denham (six months), Charles 
L. Balch (eleven months), and C. I. Chapin (one year and 
five months). The unfortunate location of the church 
and a want of entire harmony among its members were 
deemed sufficient grounds for suspending church services 
after Mr. Chapin's resignation, which occurred in October, 
1868. 

The Rev. J. B. Goodrich, from the diocese of Connec- 
ticut, took charge of the parish in 1872; and services were 
resumed in Beasom's Hall, which had been tastefully fitted 
up for purposes of worship. After two years' ministration, 
he withdrew. 

The Rev. Mr. Whitcomb, of North Haven, Conn., 
and Rev. James D. Hughes, late of Woodstock, Vt., — 
former residents of Nashua — are clergymen of the Episco- 
pal church. 

About twenty years ago a poor Irishman, John Dona- 
hoe, from Montreal, arrived in Nashua with his family, 
to make his home in the thriving village he had heard 
spoken of as far north as the Queen's dominions. So 
deep-rooted was the prejudice against Papists that he was 



70 u Church of the Immaculate Conception" — Catholic. 

refused a lodging for the night. Col. Mark Gillis, more 
humane than his neighbors and indignant at their want of 
feeling, gave the down-hearted foreigners a resting-place 
in the basement of one of his buildings, and told them to 
occupy it until they could procure a more comfortable 
home. This was the first foreign family settled in Nashua.* 

The construction of the Wilton Railroad attracted 
many other Irish families to the place, and by 1855 the 
Roman Catholic population was about 400. In November, 
1855, the Rev. John O'Donnell took the pastoral charge 
of his fellow-countrymen, and commenced worship in 
Franklin Hall. They occupied this place for two years. 
A piece of land was bought for a church building lot at 
the harbor; but the obvious inconvenience of the location 
led Father O'Donnell to change the site to one much nearer 
the homes of his people, — and the beautiful church of the 
Immaculate Conception on Temple Street was consecrated 
in the year 1857, with unusually interesting and imposing 
ceremonies. The confirmation of 2,000 communicants by 
Bishop Bacon added to the impressiveness of the solemn 
scene. A poor woman kneeling in the vestibule, with 
clasped hands and streaming eyes, exclaiming, " Praise 
be to his Holy Name; He is smiling upon us at last," 
seemed to express the feeling of every devout Catholic on 
that joyful and eventful day. 

The increasing industrial operations in the city have 
attracted thousands of foreign-born citizens to the place; 
and the little settlement of 400 in 1855 has grown to the 
size of a town within a town, and comprises more than one 
third of the entire population of the city. A significant 

* This event probably occurred about thirty years ago — instead of 
about twenty years ago as above printed perhaps by mistake, — since 
quite a number of Irish are known to have been employed in the 
Nashua cotton mills as early as, or earlier than, the year 1848. 



Father O'Donnell and His Popularity. 71 

fact here reveals itself. In 1855 there was a population 
of 11,000 in the city, of these 400 were Catholics. In 1873 
the city numbers 12,000 and 5,000 are Catholics — 2,000 
Irish and 3,000 French citizens. The general population 
has been increased by only 1 ,000 during the eighteen years, 
while the Catholic has increased to nearly 5,000 in the 
same time. Where are the 4,000 Protestants? 

With his 2,000 parishioners and 900 communicants, 
Father O'Donnell has the largest congregation in the city, 
except that of the French Catholic Church. As an evi- 
dence of the respect and affection entertained for the 
worthy father by his own flock, I mention the presentation 
of splendid vestments to their pastor some time ago, 
valued at $600, which his people cheerfully contributed 
from their daily earnings. 

Notwithstanding the strong prejudice against the 
Romanists twenty years ago, Father O'Donnell has never 
received anything but respect and courtesy from his 
Protestant neighbors, with one trifling exception on the 
part of three rude young fellows, whose thoughtless in- 
civility was nipped in the bud by the ready wit and good 
humor of the priest. 

There was a time when it was thought by some credu- 
lous people that a part of the apparatus belonging to the 
Spanish Inquisition had actually come to Nashua and was 
in good working order at the priest's house. The worthy 
father brought with him his iron bedstead, which was a 
very peculiar piece of furniture in those days. Two gray- 
headed Protestants employed in carting the furniture in- 
quired what that iron frame was? The priest gravely 
replied that it was a rack on which he stretched Protestants 
until they would consent to become good Catholics. The 
old men left in terror, and proclaimed that Father O'Donnell 
had an instrument of torture in his house, and warned all 



7 2 Father Millette and His Noble Work. 

Protestants as they valued their lives to avoid the priest's 
house. One of our well-known lawyers, now dead, unin- 
tentionally scandalized his friends by walking on the street 
with the priest, and was severely rebuked for his loose 
example. To see this same Rev. Father sitting in friendly 
council on the school board and listened to with respectful 
deference by his Protestant companions in office, presents 
a strong contrast to the popular prejudice against the 
Spanish Inquisitor and disreputable Papist of 1855. 

The organic unity of the church, so strongly insisted 
upon as the dominant idea of the Romish church, finds 
here a fitting expression in the concentration of the church 
polity in the personal government of a single individual, 
the venerable Pope of Nashua, John O'Donnell. This 
church, too, has its coming clergy among its own members. 
Four of its boys are at St. Hyacinthe in Canada, and one 
is at Rome preparing for the Catholic priesthood. 

The last ecclesiastical organization found here is the 
French Catholic church, outnumbering their Irish co- 
religionists by 1000 in the marvellously short space of 
five years. The French Catholic population have won 
for themselves a good name for industry, economy, and 
a regard for public order. Their new church, erected at an 
expense of $40,000, is one of the finest specimens of church 
architecture in the state. Father Millette is already held 
in high esteem by his English-speaking fellow-citizens, 
and all Christian hearts rejoice that every citizen of Nashua 
can hear in his own tongue of the wonderful works of God. 

Though Protestants and Catholics are widely separated 
in doctrine and polity from each other in many important 
particulars, we welcome Father O'Donnell and Father 
Millette into our clerical circle, not because St. Peter's 
benediction rests upon their heads in apostolic succession, 
but because they proclaim the religion of Christ as the 



The Speaker's Apology. 73 

regenerating power to save and purify the soul, and to 
renovate and preserve civil society. 

Fellow-citizens and friends, such are some of the cir- 
cumstances of the origin and progress of our local religious 
institutions. Gladly would I have prepared myself to 
make the record of the deeds and sacrifices of our church 
fathers more worthy of this festival hour. Most gladly 
would I have expended double the time and labor, had it 
been possible, to deliver something proportionate to the 
great theme, and deserving of the great audience assembled 
to do honor to Nashua's forgotten worthies. Your patience 
would not have been so severely tested if I had had time 
to make the story shorter. The materials necessary for a 
complete and lively picture have been so imperfect, and 
so scattered, and the leisure demanded for the skillful 
treatment of the theme has been so sternly denied me that 
I have fallen far below my conception of what is due to 
the occasion. 

Most gladly would I have spoken less about the men 
and their deeds, and have let you hear the men themselves 
speak and reveal their characters in their own language, 
and have let you see the passions at work in their hearts 
that shaped their action. But it was impossible to do so 
and be truthful; for no word of theirs, no letters, pamphlets, 
books, sermons, or speeches have been left to their posterity 
beyond the plain, concise record of the parish clerk; and 
I feel that imagination has a nobler office in writing history 
than that of supplying motives, words and deeds where 
they do not exist in fact. But if I have succeeded in en- 
lightening you, as I have sincerely tried to do by first 
enlightening myself, with an accurate and authentic nar- 
rative of what our fathers have done for us in the past — 
if we have had our sympathies awakened for what was 
noble in their lives, their sacrifices, and their toils, and 



74 Gracious Admonitions. 

have learned to deplore and avoid what was mistaken in 
method and but little in character, — I shall find some con- 
solation in the regret that I feel for the incompetent per- 
formance of the duty assigned me. 

But while the past is reviewed and contemporary 
history is glanced at, the duties of the day would be in- 
complete if we paused here. As we enter upon the third 
century of our ecclesiastical life, shall we give no heed to 
the voice of experience? Should we not dwell with earnest 
solicitude upon the future? We possess not the gift of 
prophecy. That is the privilege of the highest order of 
genius only. We would draw no horoscopes. What we 
predict would not come to pass. The greatest of the world's 
heroes would not have risked so much or believed so pro- 
foundly if they could have foreseen some of the fruits 
of their labor. Washington would hardly have braved 
Valley Forge if he could have foreseen Libby Prison and 
the martyrdom of Lincoln. While we may not anticipate 
the outcome of our fathers' achievements, we yet may 
learn a lesson for our own duty. The outward conditions 
of our fathers' problems can never be ours. Their work has 
altered everything for us; but the Moral Law, written in 
eternal tablets, which they endeavored to obey and some- 
times violated, will forever sound down the ages as the 
voice of God. The one great lesson that our history 
teaches with distinctness to the church of the future is 
that the church, as well as nations and individuals, must 
be founded on justice, truth, and love, or it will crumble 
to pieces. Unloving words, unrighteous deeds, falsehoods 
of lip or life will have their price at last. The church whose 
individual members love righteousness, do mercy and walk 
humbly with God, will find assurance that within her walls 
shall be peace and prosperity. 

While we have many reasons to celebrate this anni- 



Instructive Lessons from Our Forefathers. 75 

versary with joy, we have seen, in the unhappy conten- 
tions of three quarters of a century in the life of the church, 
that our forefathers were men and had their faults and 
passions as well as their virtues, — and that they stand fully 
as much beacons of solemn warning, as examples for 
our imitiation, in the church of the past. Her days of 
union were her days of strength; her days of disruption 
were her days of weakness. Their dispersions in the 
wilderness, before the savage foe, was as nothing to the 
estranged hearts of a once united Christian brotherhood 
bound together by their participation in common dangers 
and achievements. 

We have moved to-day among the graves of our church 
fathers. In scattered churchyards 

11 Where heaves the turf in many a mold'ring heap, 
Each in his narrow cell forever laid, 
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep." 

If we could open the graves of two hundred years and 
interrogate the sleepers therein, what voices of encourage- 
ment, what notes of expostulation should we all hear! 
It is believed by many 

" That millions of spiritual beings walk the earth, 
Both when we wake and when we sleep." 

Who shall say that this visible assembly is the only 
assembly present in this tabernacle? Who knows but that 
Weld and Prentice and Lovewell and Blanchard and Tyng 
and all the sainted company who have preceded us to the 
Still Country have been with us in more intimate presence 
than our blinding veil of sense permits us to see? If the 
veil which hides the invisible world were withdrawn, 
would they not speak to us in tones such as only they can 
use? What looks of love do they cast upon us! What 



?6 Renewal of Our Pledge to Christ. 

unseen glances of unspeakable tenderness and sympathy! 
How they plead with us to love one another, to make the 
best of one another, to understand and appreciate one 
another, — to love, in spite of our faults and in spite of our 
differences! There is no other way, my friends, to be 
true to the solemn trust our fathers have so reverently 
and tenderly committed to us. Only in proportion as we 
really love the Lord Jesus, and endeavor to gain a better 
mutual appreciation of the peculiar spirit of every church, 
and gladly recognize the inward semblance which exists 
in outer diversities — only in this mighty, unifying spirit 
of brotherly love — can we be faithful to the solemn trust 
our fathers have bequeathed to us. As we leave their 
graves, let us turn them into altars, and pledge ourselves 
to one another to honor their memories and their works by 
heeding their heavenly counsels. Let us pledge ourselves 
to Christ our Head that we will endeavor to keep the unity 
of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Let us pledge ourselves 
to one another to forever put to sleep the ghosts of ancient 
disputes, and to keep forever before our eyes the golden 
words of old prophetic inspiration, " Behold how good and 
pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in 
unity" 

So shall the church of the future, on coming anni- 
versaries like this, look back to us with tearful gratitude 
and remembrances of devout affection. So shall they 
gather round our dust, and bless God that they were 
descended from men who were not degenerate, but who 
lived for their children and their children's children. 



BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH OF PROF. CHURCHILL. 



John Wesley Churchill : — a significant name — in 
itself, suggestive of christian nurture and its need! Thus 
outwardly consecrated by pious parents, we may well 
believe he was brought up in the nurture and admonition 
of the Lord. 

He was born in Fairlee, Vt., a son of Capt. John Emery 
Churchill and Eliza Ann (Coburn) Churchill. His parents 
moved, with their family, to Nashua, N. H., when he was 
but seven years old. There he spent most of his boyhood, 
and received elementary instruction in the public schools. 
At first sadly diffident, he fled from nearly all older persons 
who showed a disposition to talk with him. But later, 
growing in confidence and manifesting more than common 
ability and excellence of character, he drew to himself 
many friends, young and old, some of whom generously 
encouraged him to seek a higher education. 

For a while he was a student at Appleton Academy, 
New Ipswich, N. H., where he made commendable prog- 
ress in his studies, especially in mathematics. 

At the age of seventeen, he went to Iowa, and was 
engaged for two years in civil engineering in connection 
with the building of the bridge over the Mississippi River 
at Davenport. 

Returning East, he began his preparation for college 
at Ballston Spa (N. Y.) Academy for Boys, — at the same 
time teaching elocution and mathematics. Going thence 
to Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., in 1859, he com- 
pleted his preparatory course there, and entered Harvard 
College, — whence he graduated in 1865. Soon after- 
wards he took the full course of study in Andover Theo- 

77 



78 Biographic Sketch of Prof, Churchill, 

logical Seminary; and, on the day of his graduation in 1868, 
was appointed Jones professor of Elocution in the Semi- 
nary. But he did not engage in the work of his professor- 
ship until after a year of special study in Europe. 

On his return from Europe, he was united in marriage, 
July 27, 1869, to Mary Donald, daughter of Dea. William 
Cooper Donald and Agnes Bain (Smart) Donald of 
Andover. 

To his duties as professor of Elocution, which were 
always discharged with the utmost satisfaction to the 
Seminary, were added — after long service — those of 
lecturer on Sacred Literature in the years 1894 to 1896. 
During the latter year, he was made Bartlet professor of 
Sacred Rhetoric. Both of these professorships were 
admirably filled by him to the end of his distinguished 
career. 

During his first year at the Seminary, he taught elo- 
cution in Abbot and Phillips academies at Andover. His 
services to both, in this capacity, lasted as long as those 
to the Seminary. 

As a lecturer on, or teacher of, elocution, he was con- 
nected with the School of Oratory in Boston University, 
from 1873 to 1879, — with Mt. Holyoke Seminary (now 
a college) from 1875 to 1882, — with Smith College, from 
1876 to 1880, — with Wellesley College, from 1877 to 
1878, — -with Johns Hopkins University, in 1880, — and 
with Harvard Divinity School, from 1890 to 1896. 

For longer or shorter periods, he gave instruction in 
public speaking at Amherst, Brown, Dartmouth and other 
colleges. The number of students whom he trained in- 
dividually, in connection with public debates, prize speak- 
ing and Commencement parts, was surprisingly large. 

Until the latter part of his life, he met numberless 
appointments as a public reader — not only in prominent 




Prof. John Wesley Churchill. 



Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 79 

courses of literary entertainments, but often in small towns 
and for the aid of feeble churches. 

Although he was never the regular pastor of any church, 
serving from sabbath to sabbath, he preached in turn, 
as one of the pastors of the Seminary Church at An- 
dover, and officiated frequently in the pulpits of Amherst 
and Harvard colleges and elsewhere in New England. 

The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on 
him by Dartmouth College in 1896. 

He was a trustee of Abbot Academy from 1870 to the 
end of his life ; and was a member of the Corporation of the 
School of Expression (in Boston) from its foundation about 
the year 1870, — and president of its Board of Trustees 
several years. By vote of the Corporation, the School 
conferred on him a purple and gold Star of Honor, as the 
foremost reader in this country, in 1896. 

A few years later, he became ill with grippe, which 
resulted in heart-failure, April 13, 1900. Thus his earthly 
toils were ended and his spirit passed to its heavenly reward. 



For a just appreciation of his manhood, it seems best 
to set forth what was said of him by some of his most inti- 
mate associates, in their personal tributes published — with 
many others — soon after his decease. 

Rev. DeWitt S. Clark, D.D., of Salem, a Seminary 
classmate and familiar friend, said: — " How can we think 
of the world without our dear Churchill?" . . . His 
" life was so full, so radiant, so blessed, . . . that we never 

I imagined that he would ever pass out of our earthly com- 
panionship till its full limit had been reached. But it 
was complete, if we regard God's measure, though to us 
it seems sadly interrupted in its useful mission. 



80 Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 

11 He was ' every inch ' a man — in body, mind, and 
soul. He was the real Christian gentleman. Classmates 
and fellow-students, somehow, each thought they knew 
him a little better than others, so patent and genuine was 
his friendliness to all. An abounding geniality drew to 
him even comparative strangers. Virtue went out of him 
to not a few whom he never knew. 

" He first came into prominence as a public reader. 
With a voice of wide range and exceptional quality, with 
a sense of humor which every feature expressed, with the 
tenderness of a child and a spirit easily sharing the most 
tragic or pathetic experiences, he readily passed from the 
entertainer of an hour to the teacher, helper and comforter 
of the ignorant, the perplexed, and the sorrowing. The 
many who only casually saw or heard him gave him first 
rank as a professionalist. He made them laugh, and they 
went on their way the cheerier for it. He brought tears 
to their eyes, and they felt the better for it. But merely 
to play on the heart strings, for a little while, grew irksome 
to him. He was not content to be an elocutionist, worthy 
as such a calling is. He would be something more than 
a caterer to the ever-pressing demand for amusement. If 
he could lift the art of public speaking out of the common- 
place and make it the medium of effective appeal and per- 
suasion — the interpreter of eternal truths — that was 
his holier ambition. 

" His appointment, after years of distinguished service 
in voice culture and oratorical methods, to the professor- 
ship [of Homiletics] in the Theological Seminary, he counted 
his greatest honor. It gave him what he was specially 
fitted for, the chance to direct the preachers of the fu- 
ture in the science of public address. His love of propor- 
tion and harmony in homiletic composition, his keen sense 
of propriety, his instant recognition of pertinent or alien 



Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 81 

thought, his choice of the happiest word or phrase made 
him invaluable as a critic. Scripture, prayer, hymn, were, 
in his view, quite as important as the sermon ; and he made 
them quite as much a study. With him the wedding of 
perfect intonation with the fit word — which seemed so 
simple — was the result of patient and careful discipline. 
It was his joy to preach, not by way of example to learners, 
but because he had something to say. How acceptably 
and grandly, yet without display, he did it! Then you 
saw the man behind the message ; though he never preached 
himself, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and himself a servant 
for Jesus' sake. 

11 Congregational worship, he thought, should be made 
as stately and inspiring as that which depends on ritual 
or outward symbol for effect. Reverence was a controlling 
passion with him. His voice and bearing in the pulpit 
always made the impression that the preacher had solemn 
business in hand. In the few years of his service in his 
conspicuous position, he showed increasing ability and 
fitness for the trust committed to him, and worthily main- 
tained its high traditions. His intellectual mintage was 
from choice materials; his literary touch was delicate; 
his analysis of the elements of strength in popular writers 
and speakers was suggestive and true. 

" Above and beyond all these characteristics of his 
professional life, was his eminent helpfulness. To whom 
was he not a friend? I do not recall a single sentiment or 
word I could wish he had not uttered. Of pure imagina- 
tion and pure speech, it was always healthful to be in his 
company. His correspondence was simply boundless; 
since he not only ' cared for all the churches,' but for mul- 
titudes out of their pale as well. With a memory which 
never failed to retain both name and circumstance of the 
humblest, no less than the famous, — with a manner which 



82 Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 

said to one and all, ' command me,' — he kept widening 
and strengthening the bonds which attached multitudes to 
him, till he staggered under the load of their expectations. 
A vacation was an almost unknown experience, while the 
calls for all service kept ever coming to him. The rest 
which his active spirit could not find here, the all-wise 
Father has given to him above — the rest of the people 
of God. And so we are glad, though lonely without sight 
of him whose ' leaf ' seems to have ' perished in the green.' " 

Principal C. P. Bancroft, of Phillips (Andover) 
Academy, said: — "Any record of Prof. Churchill's 
service in the ' trinity of Andover schools,' as he liked to 
phrase it, must make large mention of his loyalty to the 
religious, educational and literary traditions of the place. 
His residence, except for his four years at Harvard, was 
here for over forty years — practically for all his profes- 
sional life. The large amount of work he did elsewhere 
was incidental. Here were his interests and his affections. 
The whole community claimed him. He made it a chief 
end to be a good citizen. . . . In his special position as 
an instructor, he was always a considerate, generous, and 
cooperative colleague. . . . Nature seemed to have pre- 
scribed to him his departments; but he would have done 
excellent work in many others. 

" In personal instruction and criticism he was supreme. 
He was an inspiring and creative force in the lives of thou- 
sands of pupils ; and gave them such a pattern of adherence 
to the highest standards of excellence and of unfailing 
charity that they became his life-long personal friends. His 
work was more than elocution; it was the interpretation 
of literature. To teach homiletics and the pastoral care 
was the natural outcome of his taste, temperament, and 
training. All his studies led up to this, the crowning work 
of his life. 



Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 83 

" Only those who lived side by side with Prof. Churchill 
could have knowledge of his marvelous industry. He was 
always at work, and a hard worker. Fragments of time, 
the early morning, the late night, hours of travel and seem- 
ing recreation, were all put to use. . . . ' Trifles make up 
perfection, and perfection is no trifle ' was a motto often 
on his lips. 

" The thoroughness and severity of his work was 
always dignified by an exceptional magnanimity. In his 
teaching he was never cynical, sarcastic, or petulant. 
When he rebuked and criticised, it was always with appre- 
ciation and sympathy. He could correct a fault or an 
offender without causing humiliation or irritation. — 
1 Still pleased to praise, but not afraid to blame.' " 

The General Conference of the Congregational 
Churches of Michigan issued a sterling tribute to the 
memory of Prof. Churchill — prepared by an Advisory 
Editorial Committee consisting of Rev. James McAllister 
of Detroit, Rev.'s John P. Sanderson and E. B. Allen of 
Lansing, Rev. R. M. Higgins of Constantine, and Rev. J. A. 
Blaisdell of Olivet, all or nearly all of whom, it may safely 
be presumed, were former pupils of Prof. Churchill. This 
tribute speaks of him as one of the best and most deservedly 
popular professors that ever adorned the halls of Andover. 
It mentions many of his noble qualities in terms similar 
to those in the tributes already quoted. In addition to 
these encomiums, it says: — 

" Although he had achieved honors early in life, the 
highest came late; and the chair of Homiletics had still 
the charm of newness to him when he died. This chair 
afforded him the opportunity for closer, more protracted, 
work in the study than was possible during his earlier and 
more public career, when frequent appearances on the 



84 Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 

platform and giving instruction in several New England 
colleges made great demands on his time and strength and 
kept him much from home and the study. 

11 Andover is distinguished for the scholars, the theo- 
logians, the exegetes that she has trained, and who in turn 
have served her; but with none of these is the late Prof. 
Churchill to be compared. Some men are profound schol- 
ars, and that is all we can say of them. Others fill a chair 
with merit or even with distinction, but outside of it have 
little or no influence. They do not leave their mark upon 
the students; but nature had so mixed the elements in 
Prof. Churchill that above all he was a man, — generous, 
sympathetic, unselfish and magnanimous. Bunyan might 
have taken him for the type of his Greatheart. . . . 

" Not the least valuable of his work was that done in 
Phillips Academy in turning awkward boys into graceful 
speakers, sometimes to the amazement, always to the 
delight, of their friends. Those who have received such 
instruction will never forget it, nor ever cease to be grate- 
ful for it. . . . 

" For years he delighted New England audiences 
with readings culled from the best English literature. 
Others were his rivals in the same field, but none of them 
gave such genuine satisfaction to an audience of highly 
intelligent people. As an interpreter of Dickens he was 
without a peer. In the same lecture course with such 
princes of the platform as Wendell Phillips, Henry Ward 
Beecher and John B. Gough, not the least enjoyable even- 
ing of the course was the night of the Churchill readings, — 
as a crowded house and enthusiastic audience testified. 
It was such power and such popularity that induced certain 
Lecture Bureaus to attempt to capture him; but he stead- 
fastly resisted all their blandishments. The offer of four 
times the salary that Andover could afford failed to draw 



Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 85 

him from his chosen work of instructing lads fitting for 
college and young men fitting for the ministry. 

" Not once nor twice was he approached by church 
committees looking for a strong man to fill an important 
pastorate; but to such calls he turned a deaf ear. 

" His fine literary taste was evident in pulpit, on the 
platform and in the class-room; and yet somehow his full 
intellectual force was overlooked, — it may have been that 
it was overshadowed by other qualities that made him 
popular, but by a false psychology were not thought of as 
intellectual. . . . 

" His wide knowledge of men and his great human 
sympathy enabled him to see and feel the needs of men — 
their spiritual needs — and prompted him to study how he 
could meet them and help others to do likewise. . . . 

" His ideal pastor was not a pale theological student 
in a white necktie, but a man among men, a man with 
iron in his blood, living a wholesome, happy life, enjoying 
all the good things that God has given him — a gentleman, 
seeking to win men to Christ by the open heart and open 
hand." 

Rev. Harry P. Dewey, D.D., at an Alumni Dinner 
in Andover, June 13, 1901, said: — "Two friends talked 
with one another, as they returned from the cemetery 
yonder, whither his body had just been borne; and one 
told of a kindness which Prof. Churchill had shown him. 
1 Yes! ' replied the other friend, ' that is what every one 
is saying to-day, — What he did for me.' — This man of 
consolation and cheer, who felt in his sensitive heart the 
pain of others as his own, once wrote a letter to a friend 
who had suffered grief, saying that he thought the best 
word descriptive of the other life was Reunion; and surely, 
in the sense of bereavement which is upon us at this hour, 



86 Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 

we all feel that Heaven will grant us a happier entrance, 
if the dear, beloved Churchill is to be at the open gate, — 
to bid us welcome." 



Dr. S. S. Curry, President of the Boston School of 
Expression, said of him — in a publication issued soon 
after Prof. Churchill's decease: — 

" We have lost not only the best known but the most 
artistic of our public readers. He believed in reading 
rather than impersonating. He always had his text before 
him. 

" Among the characteristics of his art were his subtile 
power and delicate truthfulness in transitions, a fine in- 
stinct of unity and harmony, a marvelously sympathetic 
genuineness and naturalness, and the breadth and depth of 
his humor, which — as Thackeray says — sheds tears. 
His magnetism was most inspiring. 

" His annual visits to the School of Expression were 
always occasions of great joy to all the teachers as well as 
students. He brought always a restful repose, and a 
genial sympathy with his audience that put everyone at 
his ease and soothed into calmness the perturbed agitations 
and weariness of his most nervous hearer. 

11 His interpretations of Dickens' characters were 
very unique — wholly different from those of Prof. Eastey, 
who made a life-long study of the representations of this 
author. His reading of the Charity Dinner was totally 
different from that of Ballou, for whom the selection was 
originally written. Indeed, all his work was original, and 
bore the mark of a dramatic, creative genius. His famous 
reading from Hamlet was thoroughly unconventional, and 
showed a finely conceived harmony between the grotesque 
elements in the grave-digger, the passion of Laertes, and 
the subdued intensity of Hamlet. His rendering of Ros- 



Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 87 

setti's great lyric, Sister Helen, was poetic and intense; 
and embodied, in his rendering of the refrain, his idea of 
the Greek chorus. 

" The most difficult of dialects, the Lancashire, was 
so suggested by him that every word could be distinctly 
understood. The same is true of his Irish, his French, and his 
Scotch dialects. All were given, not as an artificial imita- 
tion, but as a representation of dramatic insight; they were 
always expressive of types of character. 

" Prof. Churchill . . . was one of the editors of the 
Andover Review, and contributed many articles of great 
interest upon noted speakers.* . . . 

" He was every inch an artist. Associated as he was, 
all his life, with professors and scholars ; yet — by his 
imaginative and sympathetic instinct, by his intuitive 
power to ' do the thing that breeds the thought,' by his 
noble suggestion and intimation of his seeing things from 
different points of view, [and] by his power of assimilation 
and [his] understanding of human nature — he was one 
who could mould his fellowmen by direct portrayal, better 
than by reflective and persuasive teaching. . . . 

11 Can I dare to speak in cold print of that beautiful 
personality, that marvelous friend, that sympathetic ad- 
viser, that loyal heart? 

His life was gentle; and the elements 

So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up 

And say to all the world, " This was a man." ' 

"What a crowd gathered at his funeral! There 
. . . I saw painters, musicians and literary men, lawyers 

* An eminent scholar and critic, known throughout the country 
and long acquainted with Prof. Churchill, is reported to have said of 
him that, in his best judgment, he was one of the five ablest reviewers 
in the United States. 



88 Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 

and judges, who had come long distances to pay him their 
last tribute. 

" His body sleeps on that famous hill, by the side of 
the distinguished men who had for long years filled the 
chairs at Andover, — not far from the grave of Harriet 
Beecher Stowe, of whom he was a personal friend and of 
whose works he was the greatest interpreter. . . . As I 
came down to take the train, I could not endure the thought 
that I could no more come to him for counsel and inspira- 
tion, for strength and patience, in carrying out the great 
work to which I have given my life." 



It may be well to ask: How was Prof. Churchill 
regarded during the latter part of his life by his old friends 
and acquaintances in Nashua, — did they continue to 
like him as well as in his earlier years? Let us see! 

The Nashua Daily Press/ in its issue of April 14, 
1900, said: — " Prof. John Wesley Churchill, D.D., died 
at his home in Andover, Mass., on Good Friday, at the 
age of 61 years. He was a son of the late Capt. John E. 
Churchill of blessed memory in the Main street Method- 
ist Church and in the hearts of all Nashuans who knew 
him. . . . Brought up in this city, he came here frequently 
in the lifetime of his parents, kept in touch with the people, 
and delivered the address at the bi-centennial of old Dun- 
stable and the dedicatory sermon of the present First 
Congregational Church. ... He had often preached in 
the church mentioned, of which he was ... a member. 
... Of his memory, no words are too eulogistic to be 
spoken. He was a sincere man, faithful in all things, a 
scholarly gentleman, a reader without a peer, a minister 
of the gospel of eloquence and power. He rests from his 
labors, and his name is blessed." 




Present First Congregational Church. 



Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 89 

The Nashua Daily Telegraph, in its issue of April 
14, 1900, said of Prof. Churchill: — "Although not a 
resident of this city for many years, John Wesley Churchill 
has always been looked upon as a ' Nashua boy.' . . . 
Nashua was always loyal to him, and the boys and girls 
who were in school with him never wearied in speaking 
their praise of him to the younger generation." 

The Manchester Mirror of like date, after speaking 
of his scholarly attainments and ability as a preacher and 
elocutionist, said: — "He was the embodiment of unself- 
ishness and a husband and father of unusual tenderness and 
devotion." 



A little more than a year after Prof. Churchill's de- 
cease, a life-like portrait of him, of rare artistic merit, was 
presented to Phillips Academy. The gift was fittingly 
announced, in an admirable letter from Prof. John Phelps 
Taylor, as follows : — 

Andover, Mass., 

May 18, 1901. 
Principal Bancroft, D.D., LL.D., 
Dear Dr. Bancroft: — 

The pupils and friends of the late Professor John 
Wesley Churchill herewith present to Phillips Academy 
the portrait of one of her most honored and beloved sons 
and instructors. 

They lay this treasure fitly at the feet of the Mother 
of the Seminary, from whose chair of sacred rhetoric he 
went so early to his crown. 

They recall, with admiring pride, the judgment, the 
conscience, the manliness, the culture, the geniality, the dis- 
interestedness, the humor, the pathos, the charm, the fin- 



90 Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 

ish, the devotion to duty, the kindliness toward man, the 
reverence for God, which were his in rare degree. 

They desire that his ardor for perfection may live in 
the school he loved and in the community he adorned. 
Thanks to your sympathetic cooperation and to the genius 
and generosity of the artist — Mr. Paul Selinger, — the 
Academy becomes the owner of a speaking likeness of a 
noble spirit. 

The many donors rejoice to believe that Phillips 
today receives, in this glowing canvas, an inspiration to 
the highest, not unworthy of the lamented dead. 
With high respect and esteem, I am 

Yours cordially and sympathetically, 

John Phelps Taylor. 



Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 91 

Not long after the presentation of the portrait, there 
was contributed to the Memorial Room in which it had 
been placed a massive bronze tablet bearing the inscrip- 
tion shown below : — 



TO THE BELOVED MEMORY OF 
JOHN WESLEY CHURCHILL 

DOCTOR IN DIVINITY PROFESSOR IN THIS SEAT OF 

RELIGION AND LEARNING 

FOR THE SPACE OF TWO AND THIRTY YEARS 

A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS 

MAGNANIMITY SERVICEABLENESS AND GRACE 

MADE A NATURE GIFTED AND TENDER 

A POWER FOR PEACE A FOUNTAIN OF GOOD 

HE TAUGHT MEN HOW TO MAKE TRUTH WINSOME 

1839—1900 



Since the removal of Andover Theological Seminary 
to Cambridge, Mass., this tablet has been transferred to 
the Phillips Academy Chapel on Andover Hill. 



92 Biographic Sketch of Prof, Churchill. 

In conclusion, the writer of this biographic sketch is 
constrained to say that, from first to last, he has felt that 
he was treating of one whose character was altogether unique, 
and that no words of his could do justice to the rare per- 
sonal worth of his subject. It is therefore his earnest 
prayer that the friends of Prof. Churchill, and especially 
the Church of which he was so long a member, will con- 
tinue to cherish his memory with ardent affection, and will 
be ennobled and sanctified through his personal influence. 
And may God richly reward his Christ-like efforts and 
self-denials! 

The End. 



APPENDIX. 



John Eliot, familiarly known in history as the Apostle 
to the Indians, was born in Nazing, Essex County, Eng- 
land, in the year 1604. Having decided in his early youth 
to become a minister of the gospel, he pursued a course of 
study at Jesus College, Cambridge University, and took 
orders in the Church of England. 

Soon afterwards he became a non-conformist, and 
went to America. Having preached a year at a church in 
Boston, he was called in 1632 to a pastorate in Roxbury; 
where he fixed his permanent abode and did the chief work 
of his subsequent life. Fortunately his cares were les- 
sened by the companionship of an estimable wife, who 
came from England to accept his hand in marriage, and 
who survived until near the period of his death. 

From about the time of his settlement in America, 
Eliot was carefully considerate of the welfare of its Indian 
tribes. Although he received at first but little encourage- 
ment in this benevolent disposition, from his familiar 
associates, he soon won the favor of Winslow, the agent in 
England of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, — and thus 
brought about the incorporation in 1640 of a British So- 
ciety to furnish funds for christianizing the Indians. To 
this society, Harvard College, in its early days, was largely 
indebted for the help which made it an important liberal- 
izing force in America. In 1647 the General Court of 
Massachusetts voted a gratuity to Eliot of ten pounds 
sterling for his missionary work. 

Former efforts for christianizing the Indians seldom 
went far enough to relieve them from the most degrading 

93 



94 Appendix. 

associations ; and therefore resulted in but little more than 
a suspension of their hostilities against the whites. Eliot 
planned to segregate them in praying bands, the members 
of which should be taught to read and write, should be 
supplied with the Holy Scriptures in a language they could 
understand, and should be favored with frequent mis- 
sionary visits for the explanation of religious truths. 

An Indian, taken in one of the Pequot wars and who 
became a resident of Dorchester, was the first native to 
teach him words in the Indian language known as the 
Wampanoag, which was spoken throughout the Province 
of Rhode Island and to a considerable extent beyond. 
This language, Eliot saw fit to adopt as the most service- 
able for his translation of the Bible. Eventually he gained 
a knowledge of it which, for sacred purposes, probably 
was unsurpassed by that of any other person whose mother- 
tongue was English. 

To the Indians, he first preached, without an inter- 
preter, at Nonantum — now Brighton, Mass. This was 
the beginning of his systematic missionary labors which 
resulted in the establishment of an Indian settlement at 
Natick in 1651-52, and afterwards of about a dozen other 
settlements. His journey ings early took him into south- 
eastern Massachusetts and afterwards up the valley of 
the Merrimac to the falls where Lowell now stands and 
thence to Nashua, — at both of which places he was cor- 
dially received alike by red men and whites. He was par- 
ticularly successful in favorably impressing the two chief 
sachems in southern New Hampshire — Passaconaway 
and Wannalancet — both of whom remained to the end 
of their days his steadfast friends. 

In one of his visits to Nashua, he engaged a competent 
man to look out a route for a bridle-path thence, up the 
Merrimac valley, to Amoskeag Falls, and to attend to its 



Appendix, 95 

construction. The bridle-path was provided — much to 
the satisfaction of the Indians in the neighborhood — some 
of whom were employed in the work. It was paid for by 
Eliot. Many years later the city of Manchester, noted 
for its manufactures — especially of cotton goods — sprang 
up along the lower course of Amoskeag Falls. 

The translation of the Bible by John Eliot, into the 
Wampanoag language, was completed in 1658. His New 
Testament was published at Cambridge, Mass., in 1661, 
and his Old Testament in 1663. But, although he lived 
until 1690 — blessed till near his end with rare bodily and 
mental vigor, and remarkable for his sweetness of temper 
and winning persuasiveness — his hopes of bringing mul- 
titudes of the red men to Christ were never realized. 

Many reasons may be assigned for his failure. The 
great majority of the whites were unwilling to cooperate 
with him. They believed that the Indians would hold 
fast to their usual modes of support chiefly by hunting and 
fishing. Rangers of the forests liked these pursuits better 
than cultivating the soil. Besides, the white population 
— which was growing numerous — steadily encroached 
upon the red men's hunting grounds and fishing resorts; 
and so compelled their retirement. In most instances, 
however, their lands were bought for a satisfactory con- 
sideration. One of the chief factors in causing trouble 
between the two races undoubtedly was the almost uni- 
versal indulgence in alcoholic drinks. The Indians soon 
shared in this indulgence; and often were led thereby into 
the wildest excesses. Thus wars were generated, which 
begot a lasting hatred, and resulted in great destruction 
of lives and property. What is known as King Philip's 
War, which began in 1675. — was largely of this class. 
King Philip (so called by the whites) was the chief sachem 
of the Wampanoags, his Indian name being Metacomet. 



96 Appendix. 

The story of the war as briefly told in the New Inter- 
national Encyclopaedia (ed. 1907), vol. xv, p. 707 — is as 
follows : — 

" About 1670 Philip's friendly intentions began to be 
suspected on account of frequent meetings of the tribes 
and many murders of white settlers. In view of these 
suspicions, Philip and the principal tribesmen were sum- 
moned to meet the whites and explain their movements. 
This they did, and also agreed to surrender their arms; 
but it was only a truce, and preparations for war were 
still secretly carried on by the Indians. An Indian con- 
vert named Sausamon revealed to the colonists the prepa- 
rations made by Philip, and was murdered by the Indians. 
In revenge for the execution of his murderers by the whites, 
the Indians killed eight or nine colonists, and open hos- 
tilities were begun in June, 1675. The Indians did not 
venture to meet the colonists in battle, but burned or 
attacked a number of their settlements, including Swansea, 
Brookfield, Deerfield, and Hadley, and laid ambuscades 
for the settlers. 

" In December, 1675, Governor Josiah Winslow led a 
force of 1000 men against the Narragansets, with whom 
Philip had formed an alliance, took by storm a fort said 
to have contained 4000 Indians, near the present location 
of Kingston, R. I., destroyed their village of 500 wigwams, 
and put to death 500 of their warriors and twice as many 
Indian women and children. The war went on for the 
first six months of 1676, and was marked by burnings and 
massacres at Weymouth, Groton, Medfield, and Lancaster, 
Mass., and at Warwick and Providence, R. I. But the 
increased efforts of the colonists soon struck demoraliza- 
tion into the ranks of the Indians. A substantial reward 
was offered by the Government for every Indian killed in 



Appendix. 97 

battle, and many Indian women and children were cap- 
tured and sold into slavery. 

" Among the latter were Philip's wife and son, who 
were sold, not to a buyer living near — from whom Philip 
could have redeemed them on condition of his abandoning 
the war — but to a purchaser in the Bermudas, who, it 
is presumed, disposed of them afterwards (not unlikely 
in the Spanish West Indies) without regard to their ulti- 
mate fate. 

" A force under the command of the great Indian 
fighter, Capt. Benjamin Church, hunted Philip from place 
to place, at last locating him through the aid of a friendly 
Indian in a swamp near Mount Hope, where he was killed 
by another Indian while trying to escape. His body was 
quartered on a Thanksgiving Day especially appointed, 
and his head was sent to Plymouth, where it was long kept 
on a gibbet. 

" During this war some 600 colonists were killed, 600 
buildings burned, and 13 towns destroyed, but of the two 
once powerful Indian tribes it is said that less than 200 
individuals were left. The cost of the war was estimated 
at $1,000,000." 

But the war did not end with the death of Philip; 
it continued some time thereafter with growing embit- 
terment. 

Eliot did what he could, during the progress of the 
war, to lessen its horrors and to protect persons who were 
unjustly accused of wrongful conduct relating to its prose- 
cution. 

From that time on, for more than a century, the feel- 
ing of discouragement respecting the Indians was so strong 
that but little was done for their betterment. In 1824, 
William Cullen Bryant wrote a poem, called " An Indian 
at the Burial Place of His Fathers", which contained the 



98 Appendix. 

following pathetic lines as to their ill treatment by the 
whites : — 

" They waste us — ay — like April snow 

In the warm noon, we shrink away; 
And fast they follow, as we go, 

Toward the setting day — 
Till they shall fill the land, and we 

Are driven into the Western sea." 

Nine years later, Samuel G. Drake, a member of the 
New Hampshire Historical Society, who was the author of 
a highly instructive work called " Drake's Book of the 
Indians", put the foregoing lines on its title page, as show- 
ing his frank recognition of the truth they express. His 
Book contains an excellent sketch of the life of King Philip. 

It must be admitted that Philip was vindictive, treach- 
erous and cruel — very unlike his father Massasoit who was 
exceptionally honest and almost always friendly to the 
whites. 

Regarding King Philip's war, the editor of the present 
book is constrained to say, after examining many works on 
the subject: — including especially those of the eminent, 
fair minded scholar, Jared Sparks — that a good number 
of the authors who have written about it seem to be much 
influenced by personal bias, — others, by reluctance to 
tell the whole truth, lest they be drawn into a vexatious 
controversy. The theme is of unusual interest — far 
beyond that of the later French and Indian War, which 
has received more generous attention. Probably two or 
three generations hence it may be treated more satisfac- 
torily than at present. 

For many years during the latter half of the nine- 
teenth century, James Hammond Trumbull of Hartford, 
Conn., was the only person living who could read Eliot's 
Indian Bible. One of the foremost of American philolo- 



Appendix. 99 

gists, he was conversant not merely with numerous lan- 
guages of the Old World, but had mastered the speech of 
a great number of Indian tribes in widely separated dis- 
tricts of the New World. 

The picture of John Eliot, shown on page 7 of the pres- 
ent book, was taken from a portrait discovered in London 
in 1 85 1 by Hon. William Whiting, a distinguished lawyer 
long resident in Roxbury, who was familiar with the per- 
sonal history of Eliot. It was bought by him, and brought 
home. 



Mr. Ira F. Harris, of Nashua, is entitled to our thanks 
for supplying us with the photographs of localities and 
buildings in Dunstable-Nashua from which many pictures 
in this book were taken. A descendant of one of the first 
settlers here, he has contributed much to a knowledge of 
its early history. Besides, he has aided not a little in 
rendering attractive the city of Nashua as it now stands. 

Mr. Federico Glextox, a skillful Nashua photog- 
rapher of many years' experience, also has done much for us. 

Of our indebtedness to the Daughters of the Ameri- 
can Revolutiox, it is hardly necessary to speak. The 
historic tokens and monuments provided by their gen- 
erosity are numerous. 



OCT 7 ^^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



022 012 458 7 



